The Evolution of Batman and Robin
by Batfamily2001
Summary: The Evolution of Batman and Robin's relationship and their characters in general. Will be following the Robin persona and not a specific character, so Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian will be featured along with others. Also chapters will be loosely tied together, so it's not one continuous story. And it is based on pre New 52 continuity, however, there will be New 52/Rebirth elements.
1. I Quit!

**Author's Note- This is my first story, I hope you enjoy. Feedback, positive or negative, is very much appreciated. Thanks.**

Dick looks at his mentor through his rage filled eyes, and does the only thing that seems logical, he screams. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Bruce looks alarmed at Dicks outburst amongst the quiet awkward air.

"I was doing what I thought was…" Bruce begins, but before he can finish, Dick cuts him off.

"Don't you dare play that card," Dick tells him aggravated, "you were spying on me."

Bruce looks saddened and almost ashamed at his actions, then his face turns stern and competes with Dick's seriousness. "I was protecting you. In this life people get hurt you know that!" Bruce says trying to reason with Dick, though also sounding as if he is trying to convince himself.

Dick looks at him with disgusted hatred. "First of all, it was my mission! I thought you trusted me enough to be able to carry it out by myself! We're partners Bruce, I'm not your sidekick, we are PARTNERS!" Dicks takes a breath before continuing. "Second of all, I didn't even ask for this life, why the hell couldn't I be adopted my normal parents, that didn't just want a soldier?!"

"I was trying to help you…"

"What by turning me into YOU? I DON'T want to be like YOU! I wish I never met you!" Dick shouts, and goes to throw a punch aimed directly at Bruce's face. Bruce lets it hit him, then turns his face back towards Dick.

He growls and wipes the blood from his lip, before snarling back, "Get the hell OUT!" Bruce looks at him, anger evident by his typical 'Batman' scowl, and his reddening face, which boils with anger.

"No, you can't kick me out," Dick shouts back just as enraged, "because I quit." He takes his Robin emblem off his chest and throws it at Bruce. "I'm not gonna be the partner to anyone, who doesn't understand what a partnership is." Dick turns away, breathing in deeply before going to his motorcycle, putting his helmet on, and revving the engine. He presses the button on the bike and the outside entrance to the Batcave opens. Before Bruce has time to think, he drives out of the batcave.

Bruce stares dumbfounded at the still open hatch to the Batcave, before hearing a metal tray fall and hit the ground. He turns around to see Alfred's shocked expression. He turns away from his father figure in shame, but not before he notices tears welling up in the older man's eyes. Bruce's owl eyes become watery as he is unsure of what will become of his relationship with Dick, with his son.

Dick drives until he is until his motorcycle is low on gas. He doesn't even know exactly where he is right away when he stops. He's been driving for over well over a few hours, and the argument is just settling in. He does the only thing he can think of, he calls Wally West, AKA Kid Flash. The phone rings and eventually goes to voicemail and it takes him a minute to realize why. He stares down at his watch and realizes it's 3 o'clock in the morning. For him and Bruce, it's normal working hours, though for almost every other hero, it's time to sleep.

He knows he can try and call Wally again, though in Keystone it'll still be 2 and Wally really likes his sleep. And it's not like he'll wake up anyway, Wally has slept through louder things than a cellphone ringing.

He thinks for a few minutes and decides to go to the closest hero's house, Clark's. He feels bad for having to go to Clark's apartment, but he already ended up in Metropolis, and he knows Clark will be annoyed if he didn't come to him when he's already close.

When he gets close to Clark's apartment he runs out of gas. Still being in his Robin uniform, he doesn't have any money on him so he can't get gas. He leaves his motorcycle in some parking lot, and jogs the rest of the way to Clark's apartment. By the time he arrives it's 3:45, and he is starting to think about leaving now, but he still knocks.

Before he even has the chance to knock a second time, the door flings open. "Dick!" Clark says through a yawn. Nevertheless, he is still grinning, even though his hair is disheveled, and his clothes were obviously just thrown on.

"Hey Clark, I'm really sorry, but I was wondering if I could just stay the rest of the night?" Dick asks only slightly embarrassed.

Clark looks concerned, and tired. Still though, he opens the door wider and his grin grows. Dick steps in and Clark shuts the door behind them. "Of course Dick, I'll ready the guest room."

"You really don't have to." Dick quickly responds, but just as quickly as the response leaves his mouth, the older man speeds away and readies the room then speeds back in almost no time.

Clark returns smiling and leads Dick to the guest room. It waste complete opposite of his room at the manor, and Dick was glad, he didn't want to be reminded of Bruce. "I hope this is fine." Clark tells him.

"More than fine Clark." As Clark turns to leave Dick, Dick stops him. "Clark… thank you." Clark turns his head toward the young man standing before him and nods.

As Clark leaves he stops himself, "and Dick, try to get some rest please." This time Dick nods.

Dick wakes up to the smell of pancakes he checks his watch that lay on the nightstand, 10:00 am. He gets up and walks toward the kitchen only half awake. He is half surprised to see Clark standing in the kitchen cooking breakfast rather than Alfred. What surprises him more is what Clark is wearing. Clark stands in the middle of the kitchen with a Superman apron and Superman pajama bottoms.

Dick only half contains his laugh as he walks into the kitchen. "I see you're awake." Clark responds putting the last pancake on the plate. "Here eat something. And while you're at it, maybe you can tell me why you're all the way in Metropolis."

Dick sits down and looks up at him as he fills his mouth with food. "You see," he takes another bite, "I… 'ould," another bite, "but Alfie… 'ould yell… at me if I 'alked wit my mout full." He finishes as he stuffs another pancake in his mouth. Dick goes to grab another pancake, but Clark uses his super speed to grab the plate before Dick can. Dick looks at him unamused, "Fine, Bruce and I got into an argument. I said some things, then I quit and left."

Clark did his best to keep the surprised look off his face. "What'd you argue about?"

"You know Bruce, he trusts no one. I was on a solo mission, and he installed a bunch of spyware on my stuff. I realized this and thought I was compromised, so I tried to work quicker. Except when I caught the guy, I realized it wasn't him who bugged me. I confronted Bruce after the fact and he wouldn't even admit it was him until I told him I checked the bat computer records." Dick looked almost saddened by his recollection of the last night's events. "But the worst part, is that he doesn't trust me." Dick caught a lump in his throat. "When I checked the bat computer records, I also found out he's had all my phone bugged for the past how many years we worked together. And it just stings that he didn't trust me as much as I thought he did." Clark looks distraught over Dick's revelation.

Clark sees the look in Dick's eyes. Betrayal, sadness, anger, all boiling up. Clark for one of the few times in his life, other than all the times he's with Lois, doesn't know what to do. He wants to cheer up Dick but he doesn't… then an idea clicks in his head. He super speeds into his room and grabs a winter jacket. "Here put this on." Dick looks at him puzzled, but does as he's told.

They walk outside, then Clark grabs a hold of Dick and flies as fast as possible, while carrying Dick, to the Fortress of Solitude. They land and Superman places Dick down. "This is where I come when I need to think." Clark tells him. Dick looks around the giant ice sculpture slightly shivering. Clark pushes open the door and the both enter. As soon as he entered, Dick saw two giant statues holding what appeared to be a globe. But not of Earth, it was of, what Dick assumed to be, Krypton.

To the left there were stairs that seemed to lead to a sort of intergalactic zoo. And on the right there were two staircases. One that led upward, while the other led down. He could see the staircase leading up led to a trophy room, not dissimilar to Batman's.

Clark continued walking forward, and Dick could see next to either side of the statue was a staircase that led to a main area. Dick while observing, hadn't even realized Clark had stopped in front of the giant statue. "It's of my birth parents holding the planet Krypton." He looked at it pensively, then continued walking up the staircase to the left of the statue.

The main area contains a large amount of crystals and many hallways that lead to different rooms. A specific room catches Dick's eye, and he walks over almost subconsciously.

He stares mesmerized, at the miniature city in the glass bottle. "That's Kandor. It's a city from Krypton."

"How'd you create it?" Dick asks without taking his eyes off of the glass contained.

"I didn't, that's an actual city from Krypton." Dick's eyes finally stray from the bottle, to look at Clark, confused. Clark realizing he should have explained better back pedals a little. "Well, you know Brainiac. Brainiac likes to steal cities from dying civilizations, miniaturize them, and preserve them. Well before Krypton exploded, Brainiac stole Kandor. There are millions of people inside that tiny little bottle.

"Come to think of it, there was actually, a sort of urban myth, that I heard about Kandor." Clark continues, "The myth goes that, 'a Kandorian was cast out by his family. Disowned by his family and family friends, he has nowhere to go. One day someone tries to mug a lady in an alley. Unlucky for the mugger, that's the alley where, the now homeless man, was staying. The man attacked the mugger and saved the woman. Loving the adrenaline rush that came from helping others, he decided to become a hero.

"He became a hero called Nightwing, which is basically the equivalent to a black hawk on Earth. He continued to save people and outgrew his family's name.' Interesting story in my opinion." Dick looks at Clark intrigued by the story the older hero had just told him. Clark smiles his signature smile back at Dick, and then proceeds to stare at the city of Kandor.

"So what did Nightwing look like?" Dick asks out of curiosity.

Clark turns back to him, then puts his hand to his chin pondering. "If I remember correctly he work black with a blue emblem and a blue cape. He was so much of a hero, that the colors of black and blue became synonymous with Nightwing. He even got his own holiday."

Clark finishes and as he does he feels another body wrapped around his. He looks down to see Dick tightly grasping Clark. "Thank you." Dick whispers to the Kryptonian.

"Anytime."


	2. Out of Batman's Shadow

He stands in front of the mirror admiring himself. For the past few months, he's been training exceptionally hard, harder than he ever has. Since he has left Batman he has gained a lot more muscle, and has lost the boyish look he had as Robin.

He hears a ring of the door and runs over to see who it is. When he opens the door to fiery red hair, and a childish grin. In the hands of the young speedster is a box with a red bow.

"Wally!" The dark haired man says through the smile now forming on his face. Wally's grin widens. He puts down the box and his arms widen, as he embraces the shorter man. "Whatcha doing in Bludhaven?" Dick asks curiously.

"You know just went for a run this is where I ended up. Plus I've got something to give you, hence the box." Wally replies picking up the box once again. Dick opens the door more and Wally steps inside. Wally places the box down on a table in the middle of the apartment. "So I hear you don't go by Robin anymore. I also hear that you now have the lamest superhero costume ever. I mean are you kidding me? Sweatshirt and jeans? Didn't Roy tell you how impractical that is?" Wally asks through a toothy grin.

"Shut up Kid Idiot," Dick says jokingly, "it's hard to pay for all that tech when you're low on funds."

"Quit it, you're distracting me from the point I was trying to make," Wally says through a chuckle.

"The only reason I distracted you, is because you have the attention span of a five year old." Dick replies nonchalantly.

"Hey, you try to have super speed and deal with normal people, everything seems extremely sloooowwwww… Crap, you did it again. Back to what I was gonna say, I heard you call yourself Nightwing. Obviously my first reaction was, 'what is a nightwing,' but then my second reaction was, 'did Dick create his own species of bird.' So then I was up at the Watchtower with Uncle Barry, and I got the idea to check Watchtower records for Nightwing, cause it really was bothering me that you made up a bird. But then Superman walks in, and he sees that I'm looking up Nightwing. And he asks me why I'm searching Nightwing, you know what long story short, he told me why you chose the name. So with the help of Uncle Barry and Star Labs, I made you this," Wally says offering Dick the box.

Dick opens the box and sees a black uniform with a large blue emblem is the center. The emblem held resemblance to a hawk like creature. Dick is left speechless. He looks up at Wally and gives him a hug, "Thanks man."

"No Problem, I mean what are friends for." Dick and Wally part from their embrace and look at each other for a moment.

"So, I bet that trip from Keystone left you hungry, wanna get some food?" Dick asks already knowing the answer.

"Are you kidding me?! When am I not hungry?" Wally asks chuckling. Dick smiles.

"C'mom, I know a really good diner around the corner, on me." Dick tells him grabbing a jacket.

"No Dick, really man, you don't have to pay for me." Wally offers.

"What are friends for then?" Dick asks.

"Fine, but only for the first two meals I order, after that, it's all me." Wally tells him.

"Deal." Dick and him walk out the door and close it. Dick locks the door and they begin walking down the stairs when they hear sirens. "You got your costume?" Dick asks.

"Of course I do, never leave home without it." Wally says proudly.

Dick smiles, "Great, now can you go grab mi…" before Dick finishes Wally is gone in a gust of wind, and then back again in another. He hands Dick the uniform and the two young men change quickly.

Dick opens a window and jumps then pulls out his grappling hook, that he kept from being Robin. Wally speeds down the building, then runs alongside Dick, as he swings from building to building. "Kid, there's a robbery two blocks down. I'll meet you there." Wally nods and then just like that, Wally is gone is a yellow and red blur.

When Dick gets to the roof of the bank, Wally is there waiting for him. "So I checked the building, there are six gunman and about fifteen hostages."

"Ok I'll go in from the skyline window. While they're distracted by me, you get all the hostages out, then we take turns kicking their butts!" Dick says smirking. Wally nods and gets ready for Dick's signal.

Dick jumps up and crashes through the giant skyline window. Wally sees everything go down in slow motion, the robbers begin to look up to see Dick crashing through the window, he's already got projectiles in his hand. The robber on the far left is panicking and trying to load his gun but he just dropped his clip. Another two robbers are about to shoot so Wally runs over and turns the gun's safety on. The last three robbers are just looking up at him as he falls toward the ground.

As Dick crashes through the window he sees Wally running throughout the room moving hostages out. He throws the shurikens he's been holding at three of the men. Although he's out of practice, he still is able to throw them all at the barrel of the gun, preventing the robbers from firing. He lands on his feet and takes a moment to grin at the aggravated robbers. Two of the robbers throw their guns to the side and go to attack, however before they can, a yellow and red blur knocks them over. The two that Wally turned safety on for just realized what the problem was and go to switch safety off. As they do Dick runs over and deals a knockout blow to both. This leaves two robbers left both without guns.

Wally stops running and stands next to Dick, grinning. "You take the one on the left, I get the one on the right?"

"Sounds good to me," Dick replies with a smile across his face. They both run at the robbers, and the robbers cower with fear. The one Dick takes actually tries to put up a fight, but that doesn't really go well. The robber throws a right cross, Dick catches the punch with ease, and flips the man over his shoulder. The robber lie defenseless on the ground and Dick kicks him, effectively knocking him out.

The robber that Wally is running toward reaches for his side arm. He takes out his weapon and fires. Wally smiles to himself as he watches the bullet move toward him in slow motion. He catches the bullet with ease and runs toward the robber, waving the bullet in his face, before knocking him out with a right hook.

The two victorious heroes walk over and high five each other. "Dude, that was awesome!" Wally shouts, making Dick nod in agreement. "But now I'm even hungrier, let's go get some food. And I don't feel like changing, so Nightwing and Kid Flash are gonna go eat in a diner." Dick doesn't even bother arguing he just leads his friend out of the bank, and walk towards the diner


	3. Prepare To Have Your Ass Kicked Old Man

Jason tries his best to work quickly. He takes the wrench and starts to try to take the wheels off the cars. He's done this a million times before, but never on his car.

He thinks he hears something just as he gets the first tire off, though he knows it's better not to get distracted by what he thinks he heard, so he continues working.

When he's almost done with the third wheel, he knows he hears something. He tries to ignore it, but all the light he had is being blocked out by a large shadow. He turns around and is terrified by the sight. A large bat creature stands before him. He tries to not let fear get the best of him. He throws the wrench straight at the monster and runs.

Bruce is more dumbfounded than anything else when he sees the teenage boy trying to steal the tires off the Batmobile, so he waits before doing anything. The boy works quick, making Bruce wonder how often this kid has to steal the wheels off of cars.

The kid has almost gotten the third wheel of when Bruce decides to intervene. Bruce walks up behind him casting a large shadow on the boy. The boy slowly turns around and looks calm, but looking into his eyes Bruce can tell he's nervous. Bruce goes to speak to the boy, but before he can the teen throws a wrench at him.

Bruce stunned from the wrench he just got thrown at him. Bruce picks up the wrench and begins to manually put the wheels back onto the Batmobile. Bruce gets into the car and a call from Alfred comes in. He accepts the call and it and Alfred's voice begins booming through the Batmobile's speakers.

"Sir, just calling to make sure you were ok." Alfred says.

"I'm fine, just got a bit preoccupied with something." Bruce responds, not even trying to hide his aggravation.

"Did you happen to find the gang distributing the drug?" Alfred asks curiously.

"No." Bruce answers simply.

"Then what was the inconvenience?" Alfred asks wondering what could stop The Batman from doing what he needed to.

"Some kid tried to steal the wheels from the batmobile," he grumbles.

Alfred does little to hide the amusement in his voice when he speaks again, "I'm so very sorry to hear that sir," Alfred pauses briefly unsure of what to say, "Would you like me to phone Gordon to tell him to put an ATB out on this kid?" Alfred chuckles to himself.

Bruce huffs in annoyance knowing Alfred won't let him live this down. "I wanna know who this kid is start looking up a juvie for a kid who matches this description. Dark reddish brown hair, greenish blue eyes, and around 14."

"Ok I'll see what I can find." Alfred says and Bruce ends the call.

About 15 minutes later, Bruce pulls into the Batcave and hops out of his car. Walking over to the computer he asks, "What did you find?"

"Is this the boy you saw?" Alfred asks pointing toward the computer screen. Bruce nods. "His name is Jason Todd his mother and father are both dead, and he's been in and out of foster homes. However, no matter how nice the home is, he always runs away. He's been to Juvie five times in past two years for, vandalism, assault, theft, and resisting arrest. Interesting fellow wouldn't you say?"

Bruce stares up at the computer screen. "What's current address?"

"Doesn't have one."

"Anyone living in his family's house from before they died?" Alfred shakes his head. "Then that's where I'm going." Bruce says as he pulls his cowl on. He walks calmly over to the car and jumps in. "Send the address to the Batmobile's GPS. I'll let you know when I get there." The Batmobile's roof closes and Bruce starts the engine.

"Of course Master Wayne."

The neighborhood is one of the nicer ones in Gotham, well nice for Gotham anyway. At least it wasn't gang territory. Bruce walks up to the rundown house, that Jason used to live in, and opens the door, unsurprised that it wasn't locked. He walks around the house seeing if anyone was home. When he determined no one was here he decided to wait for Jason to come back.

After about 15 minutes he heard the knob turn. Jason opened the door and got in a fighting stance as soon as he saw an uninvited guest. When he realized it was Batman he left the fighting stance, however his body was still tense. "The hell you doing here?"

"I came here to check on you Jason." Bruce tells him.

"Am I supposed to be amazed that you know my name? That you figured out where I live? It's not like I'm trying to keep it a secret." Batman scowls.

"Jason, you can do better things with your life."

"Like I care what you think. Get the hell out." Jason commands.

"You weren't born for a life of crime." Bruce says as he walks toward the door.

"So what? I'm supposed to be a hero like you?" Jason chuckles, "Being a hero doesn't pay."

"Neither does being a criminal, not in the long run."

"I'm not worrying about the long run! I'm worrying about whether I'll have enough money to buy food each day! And most days I Don't! I have to support myself." He looks at Bruce with anger in his eyes.

"Take this, and if I find out your stealing again, well I better not." Bruce says putting 3 one hundred dollar bills on the front table. "Get an honest job, until then, this should hold you over." Bruce opens the door and walks out, slamming it behind him. Jason stares at the money.

"Maybe being a hero does pay." He mutters to himself.

Bruce gets in the car and drives back off to the Batcave.

"How'd the meeting go Master Wayne?"

"Horrible." Bruce snarls. Alfred looks at him, and Bruce elaborates, "He's arrogant, rude, disrespectful, and stubborn."

"You were too at his age." Alfred responds nonchalantly. Bruce stares at him. "Master Wayne, you know what it's like being that age, after having lost your parents. You had me, he has no one."

"If you're suggesting I take him like I did Dick…"

"What I'm suggesting is you try to understand what he's going through. You think scaring him will stop him from being a criminal when he's older. Well helping to show him the light won't just stop him from being a criminal, it will make him want to be a hero."

Bruce stares at Alfred like he's the wisest man in the world. "Thank you."

"You are welcome sir." The computer starts beeping and a picture pops up displaying a mobster.

"That talk with Jason will have to wait, that's the mobster I've been tracking. He can crack open my investigation into the Penguin," Bruce says while getting into the Batmobile. He starts driving leaving Alfred alone once again.

Jason is inside the grocery store, looking for food to but with the money Batman gave him, when he sees the Batmobile park outside. "You've gotta be kidding me." Jason thinking Batman is coming for him bolts out the backdoor. Jason now in a back alley sees another man approaching when he sees a shadow above them.

The man grabs Jason. He's wearing a dark trench coat over a suit. Jason feels something pressed against his temple. "Don't even think about getting any closer, BAT!" The man shouts. Batman stops dead in his tracks. "So this is what's gonna happen, you're gonna let me get into my car, and I'm gonna drive away with the boy and a gun pressed to 'is head the 'ole time. Once I know I ain't bein followed, I'll drop the boy off and call the cops, to tell 'em where to pick 'im up."

During the time the man holding I'm hostage was talking, Jason realized the safety on the gun wasn't turned off. Knowing this he elbows the man in the stomach, resulting in the man hunching over in pain. While the man is hunched over, Jason kicks him in the balls. Then delivers a finishing blow to the face.

Batman looks at him shocked. Then that shock turns to parental anger. "What the HELL WERE YOU THINKING?"

Jason picks up the gun and tosses it to Batman, "The gun's safety was on." Batman for a split second smiles in relief that the boy's life wasn't in danger.

Jason and Batman wait together until the police arrive. Bullock steps out of the car. And walks over to the shadowed area. "Hey Bats. The hell is this guy?"

"Someone who has information on Penguin's operations." Batman answers calmly.

"And who's the kid? What, you get a new Robin?" Bullock asks curiously.

Jason smirks at the idea, but Batman doesn't seem to be amused by the idea. "He was held hostage by the suspect. After you're done questioning him, he's gonna come with me for protective reasons." Bullock nods, knowing better than to argue with Batman.

When the police are done with Jason, he goes with Batman. "So where are we going?" Jason asks words dripping with curiosity.

"Get in the car." Batman tells him.

"Do I get to drive?" Jason asks smirking.

Bruce answers monotone, "No."

They drive until they stop in front of an abandoned warehouse. They both get out. "What are we doing here?"

"I know what's it's like having your parents die at a young age, it's… lonely. For me, talking didn't work. I needed to relieve stress a different way. Fighting." Bruce tells him.

"Are you saying you're gonna train me?" Jason asks letting excitement get the best of him.

"If you prove you're worth training," Bruce says and for the first time in a long time, he genuinely smiles.

"Oh you're on old man, prepare to have your ass kicked."


	4. Old Meets New

Dick is back in the town he grew up in, and he loves it. It weird for him to be back here, he hasn't been back since he left Bruce that night, he hasn't spoken to him since. He still talks to Alfred on the phone every week or so, and he calls Barbara often, but he hasn't even thought about calling him.

He's currently looking for one of the right hand guys, for one of the major players in Bludhaven, to no avail. He's been looking for over an hour and still hasn't found the guy. He's checked the normal bars and clubs that low life's hide at, but still nothing.

Then as he's running across roof tops he realizes he's being tailed. He jumps of the room and lands gracefully onto another. He hears a thump as the chaser lands, oh so subtly. Dick turns his head and sees a familiar costume of red, green, and yellow.

Now Dick stops running and tackles the pretender. "Who are you?" Dick asks puzzled.

"Get off of him now!" A familiar voice growls. Dick looks up to see Bruce standing there glaring with his signature scowl, that would make any common criminal piss his pants. Though he's not a common criminal.

"Who the hell is this kid Bats?" Dick asks standing up.

Bruce's face softens once he realizes who it is. "I'm his partner!" Jason says standing up and brushing himself off. "Dick," Jason mutters under his breath.

If he wasn't trained by Batman he wouldn't have heard that, but he was trained by Batman. "You told him my secret identity?" Dick asks.

Simultaneously, Batman and Robin respond, "Of course not!" "You're name is Dick?"

"Can we talk about this back in the cave?" Bruce asks.

"Don't worry I won't be in your precious city that long, I just came here to grab someone."

"Please, Dick," Bruce starts using a kinder tone, "just for the night Alfred would love to see you and Barbara is at the house too."

"Fine, but only because I want to see Alfred and Barbara." Dick tells him.

"Great. C'mon Robin. You got a way back?"

"Yeah I've got a motorcycle."

Bruce and Jason both head to the Batmobile and get in as soon as the hatch at the top closes and they are all alone, Jason asks, "Who the hell is he anyway?"

"That's Dick Grayson, the first Robin, my first protégé. I haven't seen him in over a year."

"I'm guessing from the tension that the partnership didn't end well?" Batman just glares at Jason after he asks the question. "I'll take that as a 'no, it did not end well.'"

The rest of the way to the Batcave is quiet in the Batmobile. As they get to the Batcave and open the hatch, Dick pulls in. "Master Bruce, what did I tell you about getting Master Jason a motorcycle?" As Alfred finishes scolding Bruce, leaving Bruce speechless, Dick takes off the helmet. "Master Dick! Oh my it's so good to see you!"

"Good to see you to Alfred," Dick says giving the old man a hug. "What have you been up?"

"Not much, the house is much quieter since you've been gone, Master Jason isn't half as loud."

"But he's just as much trouble." Bruce says sneaking up behind them. Jason smiles, as if he were receiving praise for his art piece.

"C'mon Bruce, I wasn't that much trouble." Dick tells him.

"When you first moved in, I caught you swinging from the chandelier every other day." Bruce reminds him. Jason looks deep in thought, as if trying to think of a way to top that. "Don't even think about it."

"What do you mean?" Jason asks trying to act innocent.

"Stop trying to think of how to one up him." Jason's smile turns to a frown and Dick chuckles.

"Hey Bruce, I think I found the person that you were looking for…" Barbara says as she's walking down the stairs into the Batcave. Though she stops immediately once she sees Dick.

Dick turns and smiles at her, "Hey Babs, long time no see." His bright eyes turn fearful once he sees the anger in her eyes.

"Richard John Grayson, you better have a good reason for not talking to me me in weeks," She says as she comes up and slaps him across the cheek.

He runs his cheek as he answers, "Well you see…"

"And you have haven't answered my texts." She continues, "nor have you responded to any emails or…" Dick shuts her up by kissing her passionately. "That doesn't get you off the hook." He leans in and whispers into her ear. She giggles.

"Ahem." They both look at Bruce like they forgot he was there. Dick looks over to Jason, who is having difficulty containing the outburst of laughter, that's begging to be released. Dick and Barbara's faces are both bright red, but Bruce continues. "So what were you saying Barbara?"

"Oh yeah, I looked into the guy you were looking for, Jason DiStefano, and I think I found…"

"Wait you're looking for him too?" Dick asks.

"Yes, why are you looking into him?" Bruce asks in return.

"I have evidence that he has something to do with a new crime boss in Bludhaven, you?"

"I have reason to believe that he is dealing with the Penguin as a negotiator for someone else." Bruce says.

"If they really are trying to make a deal, the boss in Bludhaven and the Penguin, then we can use as many people out there as possible." Dick tells him.

"Agreed. So teams will be Jason and I, and you and Barbara."

"As much as I'd love that, I want to get to know the new kid, so I was thinking Birds together and Bats together." Dick suggests.

"Fine by me."

"C'mon kid." Dick motions for Jason to get on the bike with him.

"Master Dick, you cannot expect me to let Master Jason to get on that dangerous vehicle with you."

"What you want me to get the sidecar out?" Alfred gives him a pointed look. "He'll be fine Al. I'll be careful. Here, catch kid," Dick says tossing Jason a motorcycle helmet. Jason puts it on and they get on the bike and drive off.

They stand on a rooftop observing one of Penguin's clubs. "So, how'd you get involved in this." Dick asks breaking the silence.

"B caught me stealing the wheels off the Batmobile. He then read into my history and started training me to help with my 'anger problems'. He said I had potential and made me Robin, after about 6 months of training. So how about you?"

"B saw me in him. He watched me, watch my parents die. He took me in, telling me that I would never be alone. I found out he was Batman when I stumbled on the entrance to the Batcave. He went after my parent's killer, and forbade me to come. I of course didn't listen. I wore my old gymnast uniform and helped him anyway. After we took down the guy, he told me that, 'if we're going to be partners, we're going to do it my way.' He trained for a couple of a months, and then I made my debut as Robin, The Boy Wonder." Dick finishes his story and looks through his binoculars again. "I'm sorry for tackling you earlier. I didn't realize B had a new partner."

"It's fine, I assumed you and him were on good terms because of how highly he spoke of the 'Original Robin'." Jason says, sounding envious.

"Don't worry, I can already see what he saw in you. You know most people wouldn't have been able to keep up with me on the roof tops." Dick says making Jason smile. "I see him."

"Ok, let's do this!" Jason says enthusiastically. They both take out their grappling hooks and swing up to the front of the building and bust through the door.

"Mr. DiStefano? You here?" He counts five guards, they begin pulling out their guns. Dick and Jason both reach for batarangs and throw the projectiles at the guns, knocking them out of the guards hands.

Jason sees one of the guards reaching for a sidearm, he quickly runs over and breaks the guards hand. "Have fun shooting with that hand again!" He says and then kicks the guard in the face.

"Thanks for the save," Dick compliments, as he does a flying knee into another guard.

"Anytime," responds Jason, as he throws a right cross into another guard's face. Dick does a back handspring and lands on the guard's shoulders, then pushes himself off, making the guard lose his balance and fall. Jason runs towards Dick, and Dick puts his hands near the ground, Jason jumps and lands in Dick's hands, before Dick launches him over his shoulders. Jason lands on one of the guards. Dick and Jason both see the last guard and simultaneously run and punch him in the face.

"That was good for the new kid," Dick teasingly compliments.

"Not so bad yourself gramps."

"Who in the bloody 'ell is making a ruckus in my club?" The Penguin looks and spots Robin and Nightwing. "And 'o the 'ell let you bastards in?"

"Your guards seemed ok with it." Jason says pointing to the downed men.

"Well get the 'ell out, it's a private club!" Penguin shouts.

"We'd love to, and we will… once you give us James Distefano." Dick tells him.

"You think I'll give 'im up, then I'm not the one who needs mental help."

"Fine, then we'll take 'im," Jason says in a mock British accent.

"You know what, out of… my goodwill, you can take 'im." Penguin tells them opening the door to the office. They walk in and the doors lock and and windows become blocked by gates. "Eh, I think I forgot ta mention, he ain't in me office!" Penguin laughs. Something starts beeping. "I knew I was forgetting somethin' else, there be a bomb in there, 'ave fun, and cheers!"

Jason begins getting anxious and aggravated. Dick leans in and close and whispers into his ear, "Jay it's ok, we're gonna make it outta here."

"I know, we just gotta figure out a way." Jason says. Dick starts tearing through the room and Jason looks at him puzzled. "The hell are you doing?"

"Looking for the bomb, if I find it maybe I can diffuse it," Dick answers calmly. "Yes! Wow, never thought I'd be that happy to find a bomb. Good thing is I can diffuse it, bad thing is, I'm not sure if I have enough time." Dick says as he starts diffusing the bomb.

The bomb continues ticking as Jason stares at Dick working on it. Dick knows he has about 10 seconds left from the ticking.

9\. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. It stops abruptly and Jason thinks it's gonna explode. Dick's eyes widen, "Holy crap I actually did it!"

Jason runs over to Dick and gives him a hug. "Good job!"

"Thanks."

"And Dick?"

"Yea Jay?"

"How the hell are we getting out of this room, it was made to withstand a bomb blast." Jason reminds him.

"I say we call Bruce."

"Good suggestion."

After waiting another 10 mins the doors burst open. "Bats!" Dick yells giving his former mentor a hug.

"Look who we caught trying to make an escape a couple blocks down?" Barbara says pushing Penguin and Jason Distefano forward.

Later out on the rooftop looking over the scene Jason and Dick sit on the ledge. "You did Jay, I'm happy to call you Robin." Jason smiles at the words of the man, who's become like the older brother he never had.

"Thanks Dick, it means a lot."

"No problem. You deserve the title, you really held your own." Dick looks at the Batmobile starting to drive away and says, "We should probably head back to the mansion."

"Yep."

The next day in the morning after breakfast, Dick prepares to leave. "Jay don't be afraid to call, if you ever need anything. Anything at all."

"I will thanks big bro."

"No problem Robin."

As Jason leaves the room, Bruce enters. "You know we should really work together more," Dick says.

"You're just saying that since we didn't actually work together directly." Bruce counters.

"No I'm saying because I just had Alfred's cooking, and it reminded me of what I'm missing. And one of the things I miss is you and me working together." Bruce and Dick hug. "And be good to Jason," Dick says as he puts on his helmet, "he's a good kid." Bruce nods and Dick begins driving off.


	5. Bombs and Pizza

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a flashback that takes place about a year before Dick quit being Robin. Also I'm going to be holding a poll on which characters you guys want to see in the story.**

Dick was packing to head for his trip to Star City. Oliver was hosting some sort of important event, that Dick didn't care about, so obviously Bruce had to make some sort of appearance.

"Master Dick, are you ready?" Alfred calls from down the long staircase that leads to the main entrance from the residential part of the mansion.

"Yep, I'll be down in a second." Dick stuffed the last thing in his third suitcase and brought it downstairs.

"Master Dick, I don't understand the need for all the luggage, we are going to be in Star City for 4 days." As Alfred says this Bruce comes down the stairs with 5 suitcases, two in each hand, and he was wearing one like a backpack. "Master Bruce, I do not see the need for 7 suitcases."

"Well I've got to bring my portable bat computer and bat tech, plus I'm bringing a spare Batman suit."

Alfred rolls his eyes, "Very well sir, I will go bring around a bigger car."

"Thank you Alfred." Bruce says. Alfred walks out the door and closes it firmly behind him. Just then Dick's phone begins to ring.

Dick answers and the person on the other end begins talking at a million words per second. "No Wally, I only found out that would be seeing Roy in Star City, like 5 hours ago."

The person on the other end begins talking again. "No of course I don't expect you to miss out on the fun."

More fast taking ensues on the other end before Dick talks again, "Great see you then." Dick hangs up the phone, looking drained from that conversation.

"What was that about?" Bruce's asks slightly intrigued.

"Wally thought that I was hiding the fact that we were going to Star City, so he's meeting us over there."

As Bruce is about to say something, the door opens again to Alfred standing and waiting for them to load the car. Bruce takes his luggage and puts it into the trunk and very back of the limo. Dick takes his stuff and puts it with Bruce's. "Are you both ready to leave?" Alfred asks once they have put all their bags in the limousine. They both nod and get into the car.

When they pull into Bruce's private airfield, Alfred ops their doors and they step out. "You sure you don't want to come Alfred?" Bruce asks.

"I'm certain Master Wayne, thank you for extending the invitation though. I must stay at the house though. If I go for four days, the manor will become a mess." Alfred says smirking.

Bruce hugs his father figure and brings his bags onto the plane. As Dick goes toward Alfred he whispers into the older man's ear, "Try not to enjoy normal sleeping hours too much." Alfred smiles and returns the young man's hug.

Dick steps onto the plane and sits next to Bruce. Bruce already has old cold cases out to study, to 'keep his skills at peak condition.' Dick reclines his chair and begins to doze off.

When Dick wakes up the plane is landing in Oliver's airfield. When him and Bruce step off the plane, Oliver and Roy are standing there with a car at their side.

"Bruce! How's it going?" Oliver shouts from the car. Bruce sighs and Dick's smile widens. Bruce and Dick begin walking over toward Oliver and Roy.

"I'm fine Oliver, how are you?" Bruce asks shaking Oliver's hand.

"I'm great Bruce! Thanks for asking!" Oliver replies enthusiastically. Bruce seems to dislike all the enthusiasm and has even more of a stern face then before.

"This is gonna be an interesting weekend." Roy whispers into Dick's ear.

"Just wait till Wally gets here," Dick snickers. Roy's eyes widen and he attempts to conceal his laugh with a cough. Bruce sees through this, but does not wish to ask. Oliver motions toward the car and they all get in without another word.

When they pull up to the hotel Oliver owns, they see a man with fiery red hair, emerald green eyes, and a flash t-shirt on. When he sees the car he starts waving obnoxiously, making people stare. Roy and Dick both smile, and Bruce's stern expression, turns into a full out frown.

The doors open and Bruce and Oliver step out first. "Hey Bats! Crap! I wasn't supposed to… I mean, how's it going Bruce?" Wally says flustered. Bruce has annoyance in his eyes, and looks like he might he might break his one rule, just to kill Wally.

Dick and Roy start laughing their asses off at Bruce's anger and Wally's embarrassment. "How's it going Wally?" Dick says hugging his best friend.

"Pretty good Rob, you?" Wally replies.

"Feeling good. How you doing Roy?

"After seeing Bruce like that, I'm the happiest guy ever."

"Good to hear." Dick looks around, "Where'd Bruce and Ollie go?" The other two look around puzzled.

"I guess in the hotel." Roy responds. As they are about to walk into the hotel they hear sirens coming their direction. "What the hell is happening?" An armored police van along with several squad cars park in front of the hotel. Roy walks up to an cop, "Officer, what the hell is going on?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not at liberty to discuss that information with any civilians." The cop tells him.

"Do you know who I am, I'm Roy Harper, adopted son of Oliver Queen, and I corun this hotel. You have to tell me what is going on." Roy says showing the police officer his ID.

The officer sighs, "You're adoptive father and Bruce Wayne have been kidnapped by some psycho. He says he's gonna level the hotel if we don't get him, and I quote, 'five trillion dollars'."

"Great so we're dealing with a nut job." Roy says, "Thank you officer." The officer nods and Roy walks towards Dick and Wally.

"What's going on?" Dick asks concerned.

"Someone is holding Bruce and Ollie hostage, and will level the place unless they get, 'five trillion dollars'."

"You're kidding right?" Wally asks, "What kind of dumbass requests five trillion dollars?"

"I don't know, but Bruce and Oliver can't do anything while everyone in there is at risk, we gotta go suit up." Dick tells them. Wally and Roy both nod. Wally disappears in a blink in returns just as quick with two suitcases. He hands one to Roy and one to Dick. They open them up to reveal their uniforms. They rush into an alley and quickly change.

Dick, Roy, and Wally stand atop of a building neighboring the hotel. "Ok so how do you wanna do this?" Roy asks.

"Ok, so KF, you search for the bomb and alert us when u find it. It will most likely be on the bottom , you have access to the hotel's mainframe, so we can use your access to loop security feeds in case the hostage holder is watching them. Once KF finds the bomb, Red and I will disarm and then we will all go after this psycho. Good?" They all nod in agreement.

"Kid, can you grab my laptop from the limo." Wally quickly runs to the car and back with Dick's laptop. Dick takes the laptop and hands it to Roy, "Here Roy use this to loop the security feed on bottom floors."

Roy taps away at the computer, "And… done. Go Kid!" Wally runs quickly into the hotel, in a blur of yellow and red. He gets to the basement of the hotel and searches for a bomb. He runs around the basement until he finds a bomb.

"Hey guys, I found the bomb," Wally says into his com.

"Ok great tell us where it…" Wally speeds out of the hotel, grabs Dick and Roy, then runs back down to the bomb with them, "is so we can get there." Dick finishes.

"I think I'm gonna hurl!" Roy shouts.

"Not the time to get… Dammit!" Dick shouts in anger.

"What?" Roy asks still dizzy and trying to keep his balance.

"This bomb isn't the only one, it connected to another bomb. The only way to deactivate it, would be simultaneously. That would be almost impossible, and we don't even know where the other bomb is!" Dick curses fate. "God dammit!"

"We've got Kid, who can do it almost simultaneously."

"We need it to be actually simultaneous."

"What if we took it and threw it the ocean?" Wally asks.

"Can't, it has a pressure plate mechanic. If it moves, it will go kaboom!" Dick says using his hands to fully emphasize the part about it exploding. "Well first things first, no matter what, we need to find that other bomb. Then we'll figure out what we are going to do."

"Ok, I'll go check again." Wally runs away quickly circling the basement. "Found it!" Wally shouts from the other end of the basement. Dick and Roy rush over.

"KF, I think the only way for us to do this is for u to try to disable them simultaneously," Dick tells him. "Don't worry, we believe you can do this."

"Ok," Wally says taking a deep breath, "what do I have to do?"

"All you have to do is cut the red wire and then the yellow wire on both bombs, within two fifths of a second." Dick explains.

"Yeah, not difficult at all," Wally says his words dripping with sarcasm.

"Here take this to cut the wires," Dick says handing him a sharpened batarang.

Wally gets in a running position and gets ready. He begins moving towards one of the bombs and swiftly cuts the wires. He then runs over to the other bomb and cuts the wires. Wally runs back over to his friends and stops using super speed.

"You can start whenever," Roy tells Wally. Wally begins to fall over exhausted, by how much energy he just used.

"It's already done Roy, you're welcome." Wally says before passing out.

"You did good Wally," Dick says smiling. "Ok RA, now let's go find the psycho that requested five trillion dollars." They wake up Wally and tell him there plan, then leave him there since he's too tired to come.

"So RA, which room would Bruce and Oliver be in?" Dick asks.

"Probably the master suite which is the entire top floor."

"Then let's head there." Dick and Roy run into the stairway. Dick uses his grappling hook and Roy uses his grappling arrow to get to the top floor. They reach the master room and prepare to bust through the door. Dick begins putting fingers in the air. One. Two. Three. Roy and Dick bust through the door to find a tired looking man with the bomb trigger in his hand. Next to him are Bruce and Oliver cooperating, in fear of him blowing up the building, and everyone in it.

When the door bursts open the man puts the trigger in the air. "Don't move, or I will kill everyone in this building. Dick and Roy continue moving toward him. The man presses the button. When it doesn't work he pulls out a gun and puts it to Bruce's skull. "Move any closer and this rich bastard's brains will paint the floor!"

Bruce has quicker reflexes than this man and easily disarms him. The man gets gets knocked to the ground. Dick and Roy move toward him, weapons drawn. The man becomes frightened and gets up and charges at the glass window. The window shatters with the force of the man's body as he hits it.

Dick and Roy's eyes widen as the man jumps out the window to commit suicide. Roy is frozen from shock, so Oliver take the bow and a grappling arrow and fires a shot into the man's shoulder. The rope attached to the arrow keeps the man from falling and Oliver begins pulling up the man. Dick and Roy make sure their mentors are ok, and then head to go get Wally and to talk to the police.

"Thank you Red Arrow, Robin, and Kid Flash. We could've never diffused that situation nearly as smooth. What brings you all to the same city anyway?"

"Teen Titan team bonding," Wally answers. The police officer nods and the three heroes walk off. "I'm really hungry."

"You're always hungry KF." Dick responds.

"C'mon Rob, I just ran fast enough to cut four wire within two fifths of a second, it took a lot out of me."

"Kay fine, what do you want?" Dick asks.

"How bout pizza?"

"Fine by me." Dick and Wally begin walking toward the pizza place across the street.

"Guys!" Roy shouts making Dick and Wally look back at him. "Are we really gonna go to a pizza place in our uniforms?"

"Yep, pretty much," Wally and Dick answer in unison.

"Okay," Roy says running to catch up to the pair.

 **Author's Note: If you are interested in voting on poll, poll is on my profile page.**


	6. Death in the Family

He lies on the cold, hard, cement floor. His face bleeds profusely without signs of slowing. He can only feel pain throughout his entire body. He doesn't even feel the blows that much anymore. "You seem like you're really enjoying this," the smiling devil says. He brings back the crowbar again, and it collides with Jason's body. The devil starts laughing his evil laugh, "HAHAHAHAHA, I haven't gotten a boy blunder this quiet in," he pauses to think, "well ever. HAHAHAHAHA!"

Jason tries to keep his fates up. He knows that he will find him. He has to. Jason tries speaking but the words can't form at first. He clears his throats and tries again, "Heh, didn't take for a hands on kinda guy Joker. Usually you act like a pussy and hide behind your men," Jason smiles even though he knows Joker is going to hit him harder for that remark.

Jason chokes on his blood, and spits the crimson liquid out onto the floor. "What's that bitch wonder? I couldn't hear you over you gargling your own blood! Hahaha!" Out of the corner of his eye, Jason sees a batarang that fell out of his utility belt.

"I'm sorry…" he stutters, "was that… s'posed to hurt?" Joker kicks him hard in the gut sending him towards the batarang. He grabs the batarang, and begins cutting the rope that binds him.

Joker is oblivious to this though, and starts talking, "Wanna hear a joke? So there was this kid right, Batsy is his name. He was all innocent and all, and he sees this injured bird, this Robin, and he begins raising this bird.

"Well, one day he has to go get something so he tells his cousin to watch his Robin. Well his cousin, his cousin is pretty great guy, and he sees that the Robin isn't really happy there, he is mislead. So the cousin puts the Robin out of its misery. First, he clips the Robin's wings. Then when he sees Batsy come home, he opens up the window shouts, 'fly birds, fly,' and throws the wingless bird out the window, and it lands... SPLAT, in front of Batsy! HAHAHA!" The Joker finishes and then begins walking towards Jason.

Unknown to Joker though, Jason has cut himself out of the rope that was restraining him. Once Joker is close to him he takes the batarang and jabs it into Joker's leg. Joker screams a blood curling scream and goes to hit the boy wonder. Jason is bloody and bruised and is not at his best, but he narrowly dodges Joker's blow.

However, he is not so lucky the second time around. Joker take the crowbar and hits Jason in the back of the knee with it. Jason shouts in agony. He looks down at his knee to see the bone pressing tightly against his skin in an awkward position. The knee cap is barely in his leg, and very much dislocated.

"Man that looks bad! You know what they say, the only way to make something hurt less, if to hurt a different part of you more! HAHAHA!" Joker pulls the batarang out of his leg. "You know how much I would just love to slit your throats with this? I should to, but then Batsy won't feel like he had a chance of saving you. No I have a trigger connected to his motorcycle. Once he gets within 100 feet, you go Kaboom! Hahahaha!"

One hour earlier, Bruce and Jason had been going after the Joker. Jason had found gotten a special message from Joker though. It read,

'Hello Jason,

It's your Uncle J. Don't dwell on how I know your identity, it's not important. Anyway, I know, that you know, that the woman who raised you wasn't your biological mother.

Your biological mother left you, and I know you've been looking into her. You should know that I found her. Yep, she was out in Africa helping the less fortunate. What a waste of time am I right?

Anyway, if you want to see your mother, then you will come to the address written on the back of this letter. And don't tell Batman, otherwise the bitch will die.

-Uncle Joker'

Jason had done what he thought to be the smartest thing, he left when Bruce was getting his daily hour of sleep, and left a message explaining everything. When Jason arrived at the warehouse he didn't see anyone at first. Then he saw a woman bound and gagged in the corner.

He rushed over to the woman and untied her. He instantly recognized her from the pictures that he saw when looking into his parents. "It's ok mom, you're ok." Jason whispered in her ear. She began crying and thanked him. I'm response Jason pulled her into a tight hug. However while they were hugging she stabbed him. He began to feel dizzy and dropped to his knees.

"It's poisoned kiddo, don't even bother trying to get up. You should probably sleep it off, here let me help!" Joker shouted as he hit Jason with the crowbar.

The woman looked down at Jason with regret. "You did good!" The Joker reassured her.

"You didn't tell me it was my son." She responded.

"It doesn't matter, you did your part, now your payment," Joker took out the money and handed it to her. "Pleasure doing business," he said offering his hand to shake." She took it hesitantly, and immediately regretted it as she was electrocuted.

She woke up tied up. "You wanna see what you signed up your son for?" She began sobbing. In the middle of the room sitting in a chair was Jason. "Wake up Robin!" No response. "I Said, WAKE UP!" Joker said slapping him across the face with a crowbar. Jason looks at Joker dazed and confused.

"Welcome Lady and, well no one else actually, to the death of Robin!" Joker announced to Jason's mom. "Hey boy wonder? You wear a cup in that suit?" Joked asked taking a swing at Jason's balls. Although he was wearing one, the blow still hurt. His mother shrieked in despair. "Shut up lady before I cut out your tongue!" Joker shouted annoyed at her.

"Hey Joker," Jason said getting the Joker's attention, "are you intentionally trying to make me laugh at how pathetic you are?"

"We'll see if you're still laughing after this!" Joker shouted. He took out his pistol and walked over to Jason's mother. He put the gun to her head and pulled back the gun's hammer.

"What you think I care about her?" Jason said laughing, trying to not let his fear for his mother's life be heard. "She sold me out, I don't care if she dies." Jason hoped that if he acted like he didn't care Joker wouldn't hurt her. He should have known better.

"Well on that case." Bang! Joker pulled the trigger and Jason's mom's brains blew out and onto the floor. Joker's laugh echoed through the warehouse.

"You son of a Bitch! You monster! I'm gonna FUCKING KILL YOU!" Jason cursed in anger.

"Oh so what do you know, the pup does care for the bitch after all. HAHAHAHA!"

Meanwhile, back at Wayne Manor, Bruce had just woken up when he sees the note.

'Sorry Bruce, Joker has my mom. I gotta get her. I can't tell you where he is without him killing her, I'm so sorry.'

Bruce got up and screamed. He ran down towards the Batcave.

"Master Bruce, is everything ok?"

"Joker has Jason." Bruce answered. Alfred gasped, and dropped the glass of water he had in his hand letting it shatter. "I'm going to go get some answers. Call Dick, I'll need all the help I can get. And see if Clark is on world." Bruce stormed off to the Batcave, leaving a barely standing Alfred.

Bruce suited up and jumped on the Batcycle knowing it would be easier to navigate the city on.

As he drove up to one of Joker's main hangouts, Alfred called him. "Sir, I called Master Dick and he's on his way, as is Miss Gordon. But Superman along with most leaguers aren't even in the solar system. They are off helping Green Lantern with some intergalactic threat."

"Dammit!" Bruce shouted into his comm before ending the call. He kicked in the door of the club. Some of the men reached for their guns, but Bruce wasn't in the mood. Normally he would've thrown batarang so into the guns to stop the clowns from picking them up, however, now he just threw batarang so into the thugs's flesh.

The men cried out in agony. "Who's the man in charge?" Bruce growled at them. They all pointed to the man in the back of the room. He had a green afro with white face paint and a blue painted smile. "Your boss has my partner, WHERE IS HE!?" Bruce yelled into the man's face.

The frightened man reached for his sidearm, but Bruce grabbed his hand before he could reach it. "Start talking or I start breaking."

"I won't tell you shit!" The man yelled back in defiance. Bruce took his first finger and snapped it. The man in charge whimpered in pain. "Ok, the truth is Joked don't tell me jack." Bruce broke another one of the man's fingers. "I swear!"

Bruce knew he was telling the truth, but he didn't care. He broke the man's wrist, giving him a compound fracture. The man's bone penetrated the skin, gushing blood. He began walking out of the place and put his hand to his ear, "Alfred, call the police and medics to my current location. The men didn't know anything." Bruce got back on his bike and drove off once again.

"Bruce, it's Dick and Barbara, what can we do?" Dick asked over the comms.

"Check Downtown. I've only been able to check Uptown, and I'm on Midtown now."

"Got it."

"And guys, be careful. Call me if you find him."

"Of course."

Back in the present. "Bruce, I think I found him." Dick tells him.

"What's the location?"

"A warehouse at Dixon Docks." Dick answers.

"I'm five minutes out, wait for me."

At the warehouse, Joker begins getting his coat. "It's been a pleasure kid, but Bats is close, and I don't want to blow up. So, ciao." Joker says waving goodbye. He steps out and gets into his car and drives off.

Bruce continues driving to the warehouse. He has it in his sights, but as soon as he's within fifty feet, it blows up. Dick pulls up shortly after Bruce gets there, and see the explosion. "No." Dick says as he rushes over. Bruce gets off of the ground after being knocked off by the explosion and runs into the rubble.

Bruce begins pulling pieces of the warehouse off the ground searching for any sign of Jason. Bruce's hands begin to burn from the heat of the metal that he's combing through, but he doesn't feel the pain.

Dick tries to drag Bruce away from the explosion, but Bruce won't budge, he continues looking. He pulls a piece of metal up and sees a crushed table. Underneath the table lie a bleeding Jason. His costume is torn up, and his body is partially burned. Bruce feels for a pulse.

He puts Jason down away from the explosion and starts to try to revive him. He starts chest compressions, just trying to get Jason's heart started. He feels for the pulse, but still there is nothing. Bruce's eyes are dripping water now, he feels like the ten year old in the alley that just watched his parents gunned down.

The sirens start wailing, and Bruce looks up to see Commissioner Gordon step out of the car. "My god. Is he…" Bruce nods. Dick stands by watching. Eyes becoming increasing difficult to see through, since they are filled with water. Dick just lost his brother. Sure him and Bruce weren't close, but he would come down every weekend to hangout with Jason, and now he was gone.

Dick punches the wall closest to him. He breaks his hand, though the pain is nothing compared to that he feels in his heart. Barbara stands with Dick hugging him and burying her head in his chest.

Bullock and Montoya stare at Bruce, concerned, saddened, grief stricken, and unsure of what to do. Gordon moves towards Bruce and tries to console him, and he's reminded of a ten year old who watched his parents killed in an alleyway.

Bruce falls to his knees holding his, now dead, son. Why does life have to be so cruel to the young? Bruce wonders. Though no answer is bestowed upon him.

As he kneels there, son in his arms, it gradually begins downpouring. And he just stays there. All of them do. For a good fifteen minutes, just grieving.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: Probably going to do my own version of the Killing Joke as the next chapter, not 100% sure though. Let me know on your on that. And thanks for all the support.**


	7. The Killing Joke

**AUTHORS NOTE: Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to this graphic novel or any of the characters featured in it. This is an homage and an adaptation to Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's graphic novel. I would suggest checking out the original graphic novel if you haven't already.**

"Barbara, cut the crap, I know you're Batgirl, and you can't do it anymore. It's dangerous."

"You're just saying that because Robin died." Barbara counters. "It's always been dangerous. You've known for awhile that I'm Batgirl, but you only want me to quit now."

"That maniac is still out there." Gordon says, signaling this by waving his hand in the air. He continues pacing back and forth.

"Yes, and Batman needs as much help as possible, trying to find him. Don't worry dad, I'm not inexperienced. I've been doing this for years." Barbara tells him.

"I know," Gordon says putting his hand on his daughter's shoulder, "but I worry."

"I know that, but I worried about you coming home since I was five, the first time you ended up in the hospital."

Gordon looks at her, "Damn, you know I would argue, but you would just continue proving me wrong." He gives her a warm embrace. "Just be careful, ok Barb?"

"Always," she replies with a warm smile.

Gordon looks down at his watch, "I really got to be going. Thanks for dinner Barb. And thanks for giving me a new perspective." He walks towards the door and unlocks it. He turns the knob and opens it to a cold grin and a tropical shirt. Barbara runs and dives tackling her dad out of the way, as the Joked fires a shot.

The bullet tears through Barbara's abdomen, severing her spinal cord. She lies on the cold floor, bleeding. "Well, well, well. I was going for the commissioner, though shooting his daughter works just as well. Doesn't it Jimbo?" Gordon grabs a vase and swings at the Joker knocking him over. He begins hitting him over and over again. But two of the men that came with Joker pull him off.

"Where'd you learn your manners? Don't you know not to attack a guest? HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Tell your goons to let go of me you maniacal bastard! C'mon face me like a man!" Gordon shouts at him. Unbeknownst to the Joker, Gordon has pressed a button in his jacket that calls Batman.

Bruce is in the Batcave when he sees a message flash across the Batcomputer. "Sir, what is it?"

"Gordon's emergency way of contacting me." Bruce puts on his cowl and jumps into the Batmobile. "Alfred send me the coordinates of the distress call." Alfred nods and begins typing away.

As Batman pulls out of the Batcave, Alfred calls him on the com. "Alfred, what are the coordinates?"

"I don't think you'll need the coordinates to get there, it's Miss Gordon's home." Alfred tells him. Bruce's face turns a pale white, and he steps on the gas more so than before.

He goes over two hundred miles per hour, narrowly dodging cars and civilians. He doesn't even wait to come to a complete stop, he just jumps from the car. He runs up the stairs of the apartment. The door is locked when he gets there. Just a single kick, and that's changed. He sees Barbara on the ground, bleeding, and with her shirt unbuttoned.

"Barbara," Bruce says quietly, nervous. He rushes over to her and feels for a pulse. He reaches for her cell phone and calls Harvey Bullock. The phone rings. Once. Then twice. Then he picks up. Bruce is carrying Barbara towards the Batmobile.

"Barbara, what's going…" Harvey begins.

"Bullock listen to me. Barbara has been shot, and the commissioner is missing. Tell the Gotham General to be ready to receive a critically injured female in early 20's who has lost a lot of blood. Blood type AB positive. Possible laceration of the spinal cord." Bruce says, beginning to drive to Gotham General Hospital.

"Ok," Bullock says on the other end trying to sound calm, but his breathing is unsteady and shaky. Bullock hangs up the phone and calls Gotham General. "This is Detective Harvey Bullock, badge number 4225. In about five minutes Batman is coping to be at your hospital with a woman around 23. She has lost a lot of blood, and is suspected to have a spinal cord injury. Her blood type is AB positive, and she will definitely need a blood transfusion. So get everything ready for her!" Bullock hangs up the phone and prays.

Bruce parks in front of the hospital and rushes in with Barbara in his arms. The doctors are waiting for him and put her on a gurney. They rush towards the elevator. Among the doctors, is Leslie Thompkins. "What is your diagnosis of her?"

"The bullet tore through her mid abdomen, possibly causing the spinal cord to be severed." Bruce says monotone.

"You know it's ok if you show emotions right?" Leslie asks him.

"Crying isn't going to help me right now. Call me when she's out of surgery."

"You aren't staying?" Leslie asks concerned.

"No, I'm going to look for whoever is responsible." Although Leslie disagrees, she knows that he copes by using his anger in a positive way. Bruce walks down the hall and opens a window. He opens the window and jumps out.

Bruce unlocks the Batmobile and hops in and starts driving. His comm starts buzzing and he clicks it accepting the call. "Master Bruce, is she ok?"

"No, and the have Gordon!" Bruce shouts, "I'm heading back to the crime scene to look for clues."

"Master Bruce, maybe you shouldn't…"

"I need to." Bruce replies calmly.

Alfred sighs, "Ok, call me if you need anything. I will alert you if I hear anything on Miss Gordon's condition."

"Ok. And… thank you Alfred."

"Anytime Master Bruce."

Bruce pulls up to Barbara's apartment and gets out of his car. He walks up the old, concrete steps leading into the apartment building. The wooden stairs creak as he makes his way up to Barbara's apartment, on the second floor. Her door is still broken from when he kicked it in, except there is police tape across the doorframe.

Bruce ducks under the tape and enters the messied apartment. The carpet is soaked with Barbara's blood. He kneels getting close to the ground, and sees a shine under the coffee table. He moves the coffee table and sees a playing card coated in blood, reflecting the lamp's light.

He clenches his fist and punches the wall putting a hole in it. The remaining offers look at him, but don't say anything. He taps his comm and utters two words, "It's him."

"Master Bruce?" Alfred asks concerned. "It's who?"

"The Joker." Bruce exits the apartment and walks quickly to the Batmobile. The top of the car slides back, and Bruce enters.

At an abandoned Amusement Park, Joker drags a bloodied Commissioner James Gordon. "How's it going Jimbo? How do you like the place?" Gordon remains silent. "I know it's a bit old, but I got it for a killer price! HAHAHAHAHA!" Joker looks over to Gordon and his smile fades, "Oh Jimbo, why aren't you smiling? C'mon, you can open up to Uncle J."

"Is my daughter alive?" Gordon says, struggling to talk using his bloodied mouth.

"Who the hell cares? She would've gotten in the way of what we are going to do!"

"What are we going to do?"

"It's a surprise," Joker says with a growing grin. They walk up to a cage. "Here we are! Now Gordon, I would really appreciate it if you took off all your clothing and gave them to me.!" He says with an innocent smile.

"And if I refuse?" Gordon asks tired.

"I'll make you take them off!" Gordon takes off his clothes and tosses them to Joker, as instructed. "Thank you!" Joker shouts.

Someone hits Gordon in the back of the head, and Gordon falls to the ground. His vision blurs as he lands on his knees. "What the hell?" Gordon mutters as he passes out.

When he wakes up he has a spiked dog collar on, attached to a leash, and is being led by very short men. He is dragged to a group of stairs, where a single large throne sits at the top. Next to the stairs on either side were thousand of baby dolls. "Prepare to go mad." Joked says standing up from his throne.

Behind Gordon are all 'circus freaks'. A Siamese twin dressed as a ballerina, a man covered in hair, a bearded woman, and three midgets. "Get him up and into the cart!" Joked shouts to the freaks.

They put him in a roller coaster cart and the ride starts. It goes into a room full of televisions. On the televisions, pictures of his naked injured daughter flash onto the screen. Gordon screams out in agony. His eyes spill water as he shouts.

Bruce continues looking for the Joker. He waits in crime alley. He sees a young woman walk in. Not far behind her are two men with with pocket knives, and an unmistakable insignia on their jackets, "Give us your money lady, and maybe will letcha live."

The woman shrieks from fear, but not from the two men, from the black shadow that comes out of nowhere and snatches one of the men. "The hell?" The remaining thug shouts frightened.

He turns around and comes face to face with Batman. He starts stumbling walking backwards, and falls on his backside. "Run!" Batman shouts at the lady, and she does as told. "Now, tell me what you know, and you might get out of here in one piece!"

The thug shakes, "Shhhhh… Sure… whatcha wwwanna know?"

"Where is the Joker?" Bruce shouts, grabbing the thug by the collar and lifting him off of his feet.

"I… I… I don't know," the thug stutters out.

"Try again," Bruce begins, "and maybe I'll actually believe you." Bruce's voice is stern and intimidating. He knows that this thug is about to open up. He cracks his knuckles.

The thug begins sweating, "I don't know."

"See, you're already getting better." Bruce says punching the man in the gut, then again in the face. Then he throws the thug into the wall. The thug falls over and looks up, hanging from the fire escape is the thug that he entered the alley with. "Do you want to end up like your friend?" The man shakes his head. "Then tell me where Joker is!"

"He'd kill me!"

"After I'm done with you, you'll pray for death! You have one chance. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1." The thug says nothing. "Ok, fine. Have it your way." Bruce walks toward the thug, he takes his arm and twists it. Finally he gives up with playing mercy, and breaks it. The thug shouts out in agony. "You still think I'm playing!?"

"Fine, fine," the thug says exasperated, "he's at…"

"No, you lost your chance to speak!" Bruce take the man's hand and starts dislocating fingers, one by one. The thug begins shedding tears. Bruce punches the thug's face. Once. Twice. Three times. The thug's face is bloodied from his broken nose and swollen cheek. Bruce's fists shine with the thug's blood.

The thug falls over at Bruce's feet; beaten, broken, and bloody. "Joker is at the old amusement park in old Gotham. Amusement Mile," the thug mutters. Bruce begins walking away, and the thug lies relieved that his beating is done.

Bruce gets in the Batmobile and begins driving. Fast. "Alfred, Joker and Gordon are at Amusement Mile. I'm heading there now."

"Ok, and Master Bruce, I just want you to know, Miss Barbara just got out of surgery. Her T6 vertebrae was severed. The doctors say she will never walk again. But they say she will definitely live. Thanks to you. Thanks to Batman. Remember, that Batman saves, he doesn't kill. I fear, that you will have to remember this more than ever, for your confrontation with the Joker."

Bruce listens, but doesn't respond. He simply turns off his comm and throws it in his passenger seat. The seat that Jason used to ride in. Jason, the boy that the Joker killed. Bruce's eyes fill with rage. Joker will not get out of the confrontation alive.

Bruce pulls up to Amusement Mile and sees Gordon in a cage. Gordon is naked and curled up, head in his knees. As he approaches he is attacked by a group of 'circus freaks'. He takes them easily.

He walks over to Gordon and tries to open the door. When he pulls at it Gordon looks up. "Batman!"

"It's locked, stay back. I'm going to use a low level explosive to destroy the lock." Batman sprays a gel on the handle of the cage and steps back a few steps. He presses a button his belt and the explosive explodes, opening the door. Gordon walks out and Bruce takes off his cape handing it to Gordon. "Don't worry paramedics are on their way."

As Bruce begins to run off to find Joker, Gordon stops him, "Batman, my daughter… is she ok?" Batman dreaded having to tell Gordon, though he knew he inevitably would have to.

"She's fine Jim, though she was badly hurt," Bruce looks down, "Don't worry, Joker will pay for this."

"Don't kill him, bring him in by the book. You have to show him that you're not like him. You need to show him that our way works."

Gordon's words surprise Bruce slightly, but Gordon has always been sort of like an uncle to Bruce. And after seeing that Gordon, after being tortured, and knowing that his daughter was hurt by this man, still doesn't want Batman to kill him, speaks volumes. Bruce nods, and continues to run.

The speakers start booming Joker's voice. "Oh Batsy! Yes YOU! I'm in the funhouse, come get me!" Bruce runs into the funhouse and is encircled by a hall of mirrors. "Did I hit a string with Gordon? I'm pretty sure I did! Has he been driven mad?" Joker's voice booms from the speaker. "Because if he has, then I've proven my point. Any sane man can be driven mad from one bad day. Pissing off you was just an added bonus! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Bruce continues running through the maze looking for Joker, "You know I had a bad day once, and you did too. You and me are alike in that sense. We were both created from tragedy, we both went insane because of trauma. But the difference is that I embraced the truth, you pretended that you were ok. You're delusional, and I hate you for it," Joker finishes.

"Why can't you just see it's all a joke? Life isn't meant to be taken serious, it's all just one big messed up joke! So WHY. AREN'T. YOU. LAUGHING?"

Bruce crashes through a mirror knocking over Joker. "Because I've heard it all before," Bruce replies, "not funny the first time," Bruce punches him, "not funny now!" Bruce walks over to the downed Joker and says, "I spoke to Gordon before coming inside, he wants me to do this by the book, after everything you did. He is still sane after all the torture. Maybe it's a joke, a joke on you. Because you can't handle one bad day." Joker takes out his joy buzzer and goes for Bruce. He dodges and knocks it out of the Joker's hand. Bruce begins sprinting and knocks Joker out the window.

They land outside in the pouring rain. Joker lies on the ground in pain, while Bruce is able to stand. "Go ahead," Joker says coughing, "beat me up, kill me for Christ's sake."

"No, Gordon said to do it by the book and I will. We will get you the help you need."

"Why? I shot some helpless girl, tortured Gordon, hell I even killed Robin."

"And maybe, none of that would have happened, had we tried to get you the help, you so obviously needed," Bruce reasons.

"That reminds me of a joke. See there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum. And one day, they decide they don't like living in an asylum any more. They decide they're going to escape.

"So like they get up onto the roof. And there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moonlight… stretching away to freedom. Now, the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daredn't make the leap. Y'see he's afraid of falling.

"So the first guy has an idea. He says, 'Hey! I have a flashlight with me! I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk across the beam and join me!'

"But the second guy just shakes his head. He suh- says… he says 'Wh- what do you think I am? CRAZY? You'd just turn it off when I was half way across!'" The Joker begins laughing. "HAHAHAHA HAHA HA!"

Bruce looks at the Joker, and then his serious scowl turns to a grin, "Heh. Heh heh heh heh!" They both laugh together in the pouring rain. After a while Bruce's stomach hurts from laughing so long so he leans over and holds onto the Joker for support.

The sirens start wailing a little while later. The cops are frightened by the sight they see. A silhouette of Batman and Joker laughing together. Over what, they don't know, but the sight truly terrifies them.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just reminding everyone, there is a poll on my profile, so you can vote on which characters you want to see in the coming chapter a of this story.**


	8. Honoring a Fallen Hero

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks for the support. Reviews and feedback would be much appreciated, positive or negative. Let me know what you guys want to see in later chapters.**

It has been two months since Jason died, and two and a half months since Joker was caught. It's the day of Jason's funeral. They were going to do it sooner, but after Barbara was paralyzed, they wanted to wait a little. There are going to be a funeral service held and then a party celebrating the life he lived.

The service for Robin is open to the public. It is to be held in Gotham, thousands have already begun lining up to mourn the hero. The streets are filled with cars trying to park to see the memorial service for Robin.

They go to a special designated space in the graveyard. Bruce, Clark, Dick, and Gordon, carry the coffin. All in uniform. Anyone of them could have lifted the coffin on their own, since it is empty, but it is symbolic.

The funeral is one of the most guarded events in Gotham's history, and one of the few places where Batman has been seen by cameras from within two hundred feet. Clark walks up to the podium to deliver the eulogy.

"Robin, was like a nephew to me… I watched him grow up," he clears his throat, "he was a good kid. And he lost the chance to be a kid, because he was murdered. He was one of the brightest, toughest kids his age and… the world lost a great hero that day. It's different for someone, like myself, to try and save the day, because I'm almost invulnerable. But Robin, he was human, and a kid, and he risked his life, and payed the ultimate sacrifice, for this city. This city which had taken so much from him.

"I think we can all learn something from him. He was a hero until the end. He died saving people, who some may say, didn't deserve to be saved. That's what a true hero does.

"A true hero tries to save the people that, no one else will bother trying to save. And by god, Robin was a good hero." A tear slips from Clark's eye. "Thank you."

The crowd claps, most of their eyes filled with water. Bruce looks at Clark and genuinely smiles for the first time in months. Clark steps down from the podium and walks back to Bruce and Dick. The next speaker began walking to the podium and Clark was surprised, but only for a second.

At the podium stood Bruce Wayne in suit and tie. But not the Bruce next to him in Batman armor, the 'Bruce Wayne' was really Martian Manhunter. Bruce starts to telepathically tell Martian Manhunter what to say.

"True heroes," J'onn begins, "are scarce in this city. Signs of hope, are even scarcer. Robin, was a signal of hope. He was a role model. He was someone kids could strive to become more like. He was a bright light in the darkness that is this city.

"That light went out when he was brutally murdered. But his sacrifice is not in vain. He continues to inspire the city, and the reception at this funeral is proof of that. He inspires us to do better. To do the right thing. To not give into darkness. He taught us that when life deals you a bad hand, you don't have to fold. Hell, you don't have to even get lucky. Make your own luck.

"He, saved me, more than once. And I owe him my life. I just wish I could've been able to tell him before he passed." A tear slips from Bruce and J'onn, simultaneously because of the mental link. J'onn steps away from the podium and walks back to his seat.

Commissioner Gordon begins walking up to the podium to speak. When he gets to the podium he begins, his voice rough, "You have heard what Robin is, but you haven't heard about the person. The first time I met this Robin, it was a almost a year after the first Robin became Nightwing," Gordon says motioning towards Dick. "He was… very different from the previous Robin, to say the least. He had this spunk and this street kid kinda charm about him.

"Well he comes onto the roof with Batman. And he looks at me and he asks, 'So, Commish which criminal's ass are we kicking today?' And I look at him and then at Batman. I have this bewildered expression that basically says 'What the hell is going on?'" Gordon says chuckling. "And then for the first time, I see Batman just stand there with an amused grin on his face.

Batman just stands there for a second and then Robin starts speaking again. And he says snapping his fingers in my face, 'Hey, Gordon.' And I just look at him and he says straight faced, "I know that you're used to talking to him, but Bats wants me to get to know everyone, and to practice my remembering skills, so you're gonna deal with me.' And then he just starts smiling like he's having a ball.

"And I look at Batman then him and I say, 'Killer Moth has broken out of prison…' and I don't even get to finish because he begins talking.

"'Are you kidding me?' He says, 'Killer Moth is lame! Why don't the police handle him? Call me when something interesting happens.' And he takes his grappling hook and jumps off the police headquarters. And I'm there confused and in the corner stands Batman who still hasn't talked.

"And I ask him, 'That's your new Robin?' And he nods, smirks, and leaves. I'm left unsure of what just happened in the pouring rain, and I just stand there for twenty minutes before Detective Bullock shows up. And he comes up and asks me why I was standing out on the roof in the rain. And I just shrug." Gordon says chuckling, fondly remembering the encounter. "That's the type of person Robin was." Gordon steps down from the podium and walks back to his seat next to Barbara.

Wally walks up to the podium and heroes begin lining up to tell stories of the fallen hero. He begins telling his story, "So a little bit of backstory, Nightwing, Red Arrow, and I are best friends. Also I will refer to Batman as Papa Bats, Big Bad Bats, or Daddy Bats. Okay, now that backstory is done, to the story. So Red Arrow, Nightwing, and I are gonna hangout in my home city of Keystone. And Nightwing shows up and he's like, 'Hey guys, sorry I'm late, but Batman wanted me to bring Robin.'

"So I respond, 'Well, if Papa Bats wants you to! So what do you wanna do?" And then my stomach growls… Actually you know what, more backstory. So I'm a speedster, and speedsters need to eat a lot, anyway back to the story. So my stomach growls, and we kind of have a tradition to go to a food place in costume and just eat, so my stomach growling kind of just means, 'it's time.'

"So we all start walking… ok I was running, but that's besides the point, to the closest food place. We get there and Robin doesn't know what's going on, and the poor kid looks puzzled, so Nightwing explains the tradition while they are walking and I get a table at the pizzeria.

"So a server comes over and, well I'm let's just say, a frequent customer, so they know my regular. Seven pizza pies. Two pepperoni, two sausage, one meatball, one chicken parmigiana, and one white. However, since there were guests, I ordered two extra pies. I don't remember what they were," Wally admits.

"Anyway, we are all eating and we are almost done. I turn around for one second," Wally waves a single finger around in the air for emphasis, "but when I turn my head back the last slice was gone. And who had it? Robin. And I told him, 'Kid, give me that slice.'

"And do you know what he said? He said, 'No thank you.' Then he ate it! But the kid was nice and next time we ate, he offered me the last slice. Ok maybe he didn't offer it. And maybe we weren't all eating together. Maybe it was just him and I just quickly ran in and stole a slice of his pizza. But, he said it was fine, and that we were good. And then he put hair dye in my shampoo making it green.

"Last time I ever stole someone else's slice of pizza. That is who Robin was, always getting the last laugh, and he was definitely determined, and had a helluva sense of humor." Wally smiles and steps away from the podium and over to his best friend and whispered something in his ear making Dick smile.

When the funeral is almost at a close, Bruce delivers the eulogy as Batman. "Robin was more than just a partner to me. He was my son. And a parent should never have to bury their child.

"Yet, here I am. I want to say that Robin died for a good cause, but I can't, because it doesn't matter what he died for. Not to me. He spent his life protecting others, and he had more of a life to live. But that chance got ripped from him.

"And I feel more sorrow than I have ever felt because of this. My son spent his life fighting for justice, and it's wasn't justice to take him from this world. But there is nothing we can do about that now. What we can do is honor his memory.

"Because he deserves to be honored. He was a protector of the weak, a guardian for the defenseless, and a hero. And he earned the title hero. Because he wasn't just a hero to the rich, but a hero to all. Rich, poor, black, white, blind, deaf, he helped everyone he could even before he was Robin. And that's why he will be remembered," Bruce finishes and steps down from the podium.

The service held at city hall took longer than expected, but nevertheless, it still ended before the party was supposed to start. The celebration is held at Wayne Manor. It was held for heroes and for very close friends. It is more casual. It is very much just a time for heroes to show up in Jason's honor. Heroes show up out of costume in polos or dress shirts without ties.

The first hero to arrive is Clark and Lois. He is wearing his normal reporter suit, minus his glasses and she is wearing a short dress. Then Barry and Iris arrive, Barry wearing a dress shirt and khakis and Iris wearing a nice dress. Most heroes followed the example set by Clark and Barry, and most heroines dressed similar to Lois and Iris.

When he sees that everyone has arrived, Bruce takes his glass and a spoon and taps the spoon to the glass making an acute sound. Once everyone looks to him he begins to speak. "Jason would've been liked this. He would've said, 'Finally Bruce you're holding a party that isn't a gala filled with snobby, obnoxious, rich people.' He never felt he fit in with that crowd, he felt at home with everyone here, the heroes," Bruce pauses and raises his glass, "To Jason."

"To Jason!" The crowd agrees simultaneously raising their glasses. Bruce stands looking over the crowd, and smiles thinking of Jason.


	9. World's Greatest Detective

Tim Drake was four the first time he saw Batman. He was at the circus with his family. He wasn't a huge fan of it, mostly because of clowns, but after taking a picture with a family of acrobats, he began liking it more. The youngest of the acrobats even took a liking to Tim, and said he would dedicate the performance to him.

After taking his seats with his family, he watched the show. When the group of acrobats came up, he recognized them immediately as the family he met earlier and was extremely excited. The announcer started talking about how Richard Grayson was the youngest person, and one of the few people in the world, to master the quadruple somersault.

Then something tragic happened, leaving an imprint on young Timothy Jackson Drake. He witnessed two thirds of the Flying Graysons, John and Mary Grayson, die after the trapeze wires snapped. He saw the young boy from before the performance scream and cry in agony.

Then he saw someone he would never forget. A dark cape blew wildly as he marched to the young boy trying to comfort him. This image defined Tim's childhood.

By the age of nine, Tim had already deduced the identity of Batman and then Robin, Dick Grayson. He had been watching Gotham's Thanksgiving Day Parade, when Penguin came on the TV. The Penguin was shouting about how it was a crime to sacrifice a poor defenseless bird for a holiday, and then that's when it happened.

Batman and Robin had come. And with style too. Batman glided onto the scene landing on the balloon with ease. Then Robin did a move that Tim recognized. Robin did a quadruple somersault. Tim instantaneously thought of that fateful night at the circus.

Tim quickly put it together that Robin was Dick Grayson. And Dick Grayson's adoption by Bruce Wayne was big news back in the day, so Tim figured Bruce Wayne would be Batman.

It made perfect sense. It explained how Batman had an endless supply of gadgets, weapons, and vehicles. Plus why Bruce Wayne wasn't seen out at night that often. However, Bruce and Batman had been seen in public together (Martian Manhunter posing as Batman after Bruce was kidnapped). Tim figured that Bruce just had someone pretend to be him, but he never went much further in his investigation. That is, until Jason Todd died.

Jason's identity was harder to deduce for Tim. Tim was almost eleven when Jason became Robin, but it was more difficult to figure out his identity. Mostly because Bruce never formally adopted Jason. However, after looking into public case records, he found juvie records for one Jason Peter Todd, a person who would be around the same age as Robin, and matched his description.

Tim left the whole Batman obsession alone for a little while, until Jason died. Then Tim noticed Batman changed. Batman became more brutal and violent towards criminals. Tim decided that this was due to Robin's death. He decided that Batman NEEDS a Robin.

Which leads to the present, Tim has decided he is going to confront Dick Grayson. He is going to tell Dick that he needs to work with Batman again as Robin.

Tim is trying to track Dick. After Jason's funeral, Dick went off the grid. Tim has spent a couple of days trying to find him. He isn't Bludhaven, crime is worse than normal. And he isn't in Gotham, Batman is still going psycho. Tim has figured out where he thinks Dick is.

Tim turns on his laptop and opens up the browser. He searches 'Haly's Circus'. The results pop up and he clicks on the first website. It states that Haly's Circus is performing at the IZod Center, in the Meadowlands today and tomorrow. "If I go see the show, I can try to talk to him after the performance," Tim reasons.

Tim walks down the stairs sneaking past the maid, and runs out the door. He gets to Gotham City Train Station and buys a ticket to Newark. He waits patiently for the train to arrive, but doesn't have to wait long. It arrives and he sits down in one of the few empty seats left.

He arrives in the Meadowlands relatively quickly and disembarks the train.

He buys his ticket and enters the stadium. He watches the show carefully and once the acrobats come on, he recognizes Dick immediately.

After the show Tim sneaks past security and into Dick's dressing room. When Dick enters he quickly notices Tim hiding behind something. "You can come out," Dick announces.

Tim comes out from his cover and tells Dick that, "Sorry, didn't want someone to catch me before I spoke with you."

"And who are you exactly?" Dick asks puzzled.

Tim points to the picture on Dick's dresser. It is a picture of a be young boy with his family posing with a group of acrobats. Dick looks at the picture and smiles, then looks back at Tim. "So, what do you need?"

"You have to go back to Gotham. Since Jason died, Bruce has become more violent and brutal." Dick's eyes widen at the younger boy standing there.

"What did you just say?" Dick says looking at the young teenager.

"It's fine, you don't have to pretend, I know that you're Nightwing, and before that you were Robin. And I also know that Bruce is Batman." Tim mentions matter of factly.

"How?"

"Quadruple somersault." Dick's jaw drops and Tim smiles. "As I was saying though," Tim continues, "Bruce needs a Robin. Without one he becomes, sorta unbalanced."

"I wouldn't say he's balanced to begin with, but I'll go check on him." Dick says.

"Thanks." Tim says beginning to walk away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Dick asks. "I'm going to bring you with me to Batman." Tim's eyes widen, he's been waiting for this moment for a long time. He's always wanted to meet Batman, ever since he first saw him so many years ago.

"Really?!" Tim asks trying to contain his excitement.

"Yeah, he'll want to know that someone deduced his identity." Dick replies. Dick begins walking away, and when Tim doesn't follow him he turns his head and tells him, "Come on." Tim follows.

On the way out of the stadium, Dick sees the owner of the circus. "Mr. Haly, I'm sorry, but I have to go. Family issues," he says glancing towards Tim.

"Of course son," Mr. Haly says, "it was good seeing you again Dick." Dick nods in agreement and walks with Tim to the exit.

Dick gets on his motorcycle and tosses Tim his spare helmet. "Hold on." Dick says. Tim puts the helmet on and gets on the bike.

They arrive at Wayne Manor in an hours time, Dick and Tim dismount the bike. Dick opens the door and walks in, Tim follows suit. Alfred walks over to them, "Master Dick, welcome home. Who is this?"

"Tim Drake sir. And your Alfred Pennyworth. It's a pleasure to meet you. You're Batman's confidante, his trusty partner."

"Young man, I don't think these games are amusing." Alfred replies, hiding his shock.

"No bother trying Alfred. He already figured it out, based on the quadruple somersault." Dick tells him.

"Master Bruce always told you not to show off."

"So Alfred where is Bruce?"

"He's out tracking Two Face. He's been working night in night out trying to find him." Alfred says looking down.

"See Dick I told you. Ever since Jason died he hasn't been the same." Tim tells Dick. Alfred gasps at how much Tim knows.

"So Master Timothy, would you like me to call your parents?" Alfred asks.

"My parents are on a business trip. I'm left home with a babysitter, but they had to leave because of family business, I told her that it was ok and I would go to a friends. I'm responsible so she believed me." Tim explains.

"Alfred, I'm going to go help Bruce, watch the kid please, since he can't go anywhere else." Dick asks of Alfred.

"Of course Master Dick." Dick runs into the hallway and over to the grandfather clock. He manually sets the time to ten fortyseven. The clock slides away revealing a secret passage with a long stairway leading into a cave. Dick runs into the cave and Tim follows.

"Dick, Bruce needs Robin!" Tim says trying to hand him the Robin suit he took from the case.

"Where'd you get this?" Dick asks.

"From the case."

"I can't be that person anymore. I can't be Robin, Robin was me as a kid. And I can't just be thirteen again! Jason was Robin, and he is dead. And you can't bring people back from the dead!" Dick shouts shoving the costume back at Tim. He jumps on a Batcycle and drives.

Tears begin falling from Tim's eyes at the harshness of Dick's words. "He didn't mean it. Both him and Master Bruce have become, different, after the passing of Master Jason. It was hard on Master Dick, he lost his brother. Tim understands and wipes the fallen tears.

"So Master Timothy," Alfred says breaking the silence, "would you like something to eat? You have been out for a little while."

"Sure," Tim answers and Alfred begins heading to the kitchen to prepare something. "And Alfred," Alfred turns back to look at Tim, "thank you." Alfred nods.

A little while later Alfred comes back with a sandwich for Tim, and he gulps it down. "Thank you Alfred," Tim says inbetween bites, "this is really good!" Alfred smiles at the young boy. Just then, an alarm begins sounding on Alfred's watch.

"What's that?" Tim asks nervously.

"Master Dick and Master Bruce's tracers on their uniforms have gone offline. That can only mean they are in danger. We must head down to the Batcave," Alfred announces going down the stairs and into the cave, "the Batcomputer will have the last known coordinates for Master Bruce and Master Dick." Alfred types into the Batcomputer and a location comes up.

"Come Master Timothy," Alfred says, "we have to go save them." Alfred hands Tim, Jason's costume, "Here wear this as a disguise." Alfred grabs a spare domino mask and puts it on. They get in one of Bruce's cars and drive off to Bruce and Dick's coordinates.

When they arrive they see Dick and Bruce crushed under a building. They get out of the car to help Bruce and Dick. Alfred gets Bruce out and Tim helps Dick. When both are almost out they hear a gun hammer get pulled back. They turn around to see Two Face.

He has a forty-five aimed at Alfred. He flips his coin and it lands on the good side, so he hits Alfred with the gun. Before he has time to aim at Tim, Tim quickly ducks and swipes at Two Face's legs. He falls over and Tim runs to try to get Dick out. When Dick is completely out, Two Face begins getting up. Two Face fire and Tim does a backflip evading the bullet. But having a rough landing, Tim stumbles and falls.

Two Face takes this as an opportunity to walk over to Tim and shoot him. As he is about to pull the trigger he falls over. Behind the now fallen Two Face, stands Alfred with a brick in his hand.

Alfred helps up Tim and together they get out Bruce, and wake up Dick and Bruce. Bruce and Dick then tie up Two Face and wait for the cops to arrive. Alfred and Tim wait for Bruce and Dick to be done on the car. As they wait Alfred breaks the silence, "You did well Master Timothy."

Tim smiles and responds, "Thanks Alfred." He then gives the older man a hug.

Bruce and Dick finish up with the cops and come talk to Tim and Alfred. "What the hell were you thinking you could've been killed?" Bruce asks.

"We were thinking you needed saving." Tim asserts.

"And who the hell is this kid?" Bruce asks clearly confused.

"Tim Drake sir, it's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Wayne." Tim says extending a hand for a handshake. Bruce's eyes widen and Dick lets out an amused chuckle.

"How does he know my identity?" Bruce asks aggravated.

"Quadruple somersault." Dick and Alfred answer in unison.

Bruce looks down at Tim and Tim smiles. Bruce actually smiles back, "You're a hell of a detective."

"Thanks." Tim answers flustered.

"You know I might have to give up the title of world's greatest detective." Bruce answers.

The ride back to the Batcave is silent, but it's a comfortable silence. When they arrive Bruce and Dick talk in private. As Dick passes Tim to talk to Bruce, he whispers in Tim's ear, "Thanks for saving us." Tim smiles at his hero's gratitude towards him.

When Dick gets over to Bruce, Bruce starts whispering, "How could you let the kid in the cave?"

"If I didn't, he would've figured it out himself. As you said he's 'a hell of a detective'. Besides, he saved our asses." They both look over towards Tim who is talking to Alfred.

"That may be the case, what should I do with him?" Bruce asks unsure.

"Train him." Dick says confidently.

"But Jason," Bruce says sullenly.

"Jason had little training. I'm talking about actually training him. Put him through the training you endured. I think he may just surprise you." Once again they look towards Tim, who is now in the training area of the cave attempting to to a back handspring.

"I'll think about it." Bruce says insincerely.

"Really consider it Bruce. I mean, he saved us. From TWO FACE!" Everyone in the cave looks at Dick after he shouted.

"Fine. But only because you think I should."

"Thanks Bruce for holding my opinion so high." Dick says.

"Of course I do, you're my son."

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks for the comments, it really means a lot. Comment which characters you want to see in future chapters.**


	10. Spoiler Alert

**AUTHOR'S NOT** **E: So, somehow I passed 20,000 words. Thanks for all the support that I've been given. This is based on Detective Comics #647-649 by Chuck Dixon.**

It's Tim's third month of actually being Robin, he had to train for half a year before actually becoming Robin. Bruce made a new suit for him and he loves it. He loves just swinging around the city.

His comm begins buzzing and he taps the button, patching him through to Batman. "Hey what's up?" Tim asks.

"Gordon wants to talk, he said he got something in the mail that we should see." Bruce answers.

"Ok, I'm at my house right now, it should take me ten minutes at most to get there."

"Ok see you then." Bruce replies.

Tim hangs up the communicator and goes over to his house's shed. He hops into his car, The Redwing. He starts the ignition and starts driving off towards the police station.

When he arrives he sees Bruce waiting for him on the building adjacent to the police headquarters. Tim grapples up to the building to stand next to Bruce. "Ready?" Tim asks. And Bruce nods in response. They swing over to Gordon's window and enter.

He has his back turned to them at the moment and is putting out his cigar. He turns around to see the two figures and jumps, "Jesus Christ! Ten years I've been working with you, and I still haven't gotten used to this."

"What did you get in the mail," Bruce asks, going straight to business.

"This," Gordon says handing Bruce a plastic bag with a cut piece of paper, that has a picture on it, inside. Bruce takes it and examines it. "It also came with this," Gordon says giving Tim a paper that reads in all caps, 'Catch me if you can!'

"I'll look into it. For now though, we have to wait for the other clues." Bruce tells him.

"How do you know there will be other clues?" Gordon asks.

Bruce turns away and opens up Gordon's window, "Because it's cut into the shape of a puzzle piece." Bruce says jumping out the window.

Tim looks at the Commissioner for a minute, "Good day Commissioner." And with that, Tim follows his mentor and jumps out the window.

Tim meets Bruce on the building they had met on earlier. "So what's next?" Tim asks.

"Next, we go to the Batcave and examine who the culprit could be," Bruce explains. They both hop off the building, each landing in their own respective cars. "Meet you there," Bruce says over the comms.

When Tim arrives back at the Batcave, Bruce is already there sitting in front of the computer. Tim points to the screen, "The usual suspects?" Bruce nods in response. "The Riddler, Joker, and… who's that last guy?" Tim asks.

"The Cluemaster."

"Never heard of him, and I followed all of your adventures since I was five." Tim says.

"He was an earlier foe of mine. I fought him once when you were a lot younger. From this list though, I can discount Riddler, since he's in Blackgate. Joker is still in Arkham after," Bruce swallows hard, "what he did. So that leaves Cluemaster. I never actually cared enough to even try to deduce his identity, and he never told anyone at Blackgate. Although I doubt they are his clues, we should still track him down. It's not going to be hard though," Bruce finishes.

Bruce punches something into the computer cross referencing the mug shot of The Cluemaster with all pictures online. In big bold words, the word MATCH, popped up on the screen. "Arthur Brown." Bruce announces.

"Let's go have a chat with Mr. Brown," Tim says. Bruce nods. They begin walking over to the Batmobile.

Alfred begins walking down the stairs. "Master Bruce, supper is ready."

"Keep it warm," Tim shouts from the Batmobile, "we'll be back in ten! Thanks!" Alfred just shakes his head and heads back up the stairs and into the mansion.

They arrive at the destination and see Arthur Brown. His long, bright blonde hair in a ponytail made him stand out. Bruce starts gliding after him, and Tim follows suit. Arthur Brown sees them and begins running. He vaults over a car, but Bruce is in front of him.

"You look scared, Arthur," Bruce growls, glaring at Arthur.

"Yeah, isn't that the point of the costume?" Arthur asks in return.

"What about your costume Arthur, has it been getting any use as of late?" Bruce asks.

"Why the hell would it? I'm straight now. I was sick, but now I'm cured. Hell, I'm not even on parole. Prison helped me. it freed me from my delusions."

"I'm going to believe you Arthur. Trust me I don't want to be in your life anymore than you want to be in mine," Bruce says grappling away. Tim follows suit.

They head over to the police station to talk to Gordon. They enter silently, but this time Gordon sees them enter. "You have anything new?" Bruce asks.

"A couple of more puzzle pieces," Gordon explains motioning towards the now mostly finished puzzle. "It's clearly a Castle, but what isn't supposed to symbolize?"

"Well there's a monkey castle at the Gotham Zoo, and Castle Electronics has its headquarters in Victoria's Place." Tim lists.

"I'll check them out," Bruce tells them.

"I'll come," offers Tim.

"No, it's a school night, you should get at least three hours of sleep." Bruce tells him.

Tim looks sad and then Commissioner Gordon's walkie talkie goes off. "Vandalism at Medical Center on Robinson Square. Says, 'Let the puzzlement fit the crime.'"

The next few weeks more puzzles appear on buildings that are vacated at night. Tim and Bruce go to discuss this with Commissioner Gordon. Tim looks over the pictures, "'Where do lumberjacks go shopping'? 'A kind of jam that's not on bread'? 'It's closed when it's open and open when it's closed'? Some of these are easy."

"If we are to assume that whatever is going down is happening Labor Day weekend, then we don't have much time. Let's do this the old fashioned way," Bruce decides.

"Let me know if you…" Gordon turns around to see the empty room, "find anything.

Bruce and Tim begin questioning thugs until their searches lead to Jimmy Wing. "A Tex-Mex restaurant? Funny business for you." Bruce says.

"So I don't like Chinese food who cares? What brings you round here? I'm not in the gang no more." Jimmy declares.

"There's something happening this weekend, what is it?" Bruce growls.

"Like I said, I'm not in gang no more, I have no connections."

"You see, I don't believe you," Bruce says. Just then a man with a cleaver begins meaning up behind Bruce. Tim jumps out from the shadows, kicking the man in the face. Then Tim elbows the man in the face and kicks him in the stomach. The man falls over in pain. "That the best you got?"

"Fine, some guy named Arthur Brown is pulling something, but I don't know nothing more," Jimmy admits.

Bruce and Tim head out and jump in the Batmobile. Once in the car, Bruce calls Gordon, "Gordon, I have someone confirming that Arthur Brown is behind this get a warrant. You're about to have a good arrest."

"Ok Batman. I'll get right on that warrant."

An hour later Bruce and Tim stand across from the apartment building that Arthur Brown is in. The police sirens are going off as officers pull up to the building. Bullock and Montoya lead the charge.

"Arthur Brown, this is the police! We have a warrant for your arrest, we are coming in!" Bullock shouts as they bust down the door. They enter.

"Batman and Robin, how unexpected…" Arthur Brown says.

"GET OUT NOW!" Montoya shouts. They all run out as quick as possible.

Robin sees a figure running across the rooftops as he and Batman watch the police bust. "B, that may be one of Cluemaster's partners, I'm going after him."

"Go!" Batman shouts in response.

Tim continues following the cloaked figure. As he gets closer he sees that the outfit is a bright purple. He gets really close and he seizes his chance. He tackles the figure. When he lands on the figure he realizes the person underneath isn't built in the chest area. He starts tearing off the mask and is surprised at what he sees.

Long blonde hair and pink lipstick on the culprit. She uses the confusion to hit Tim in the head with a nearby brick. He falls off of her and she runs.

While Tim is chasing after the suspect, the room that Cluemaster was in explodes. Bullock and Montoya barely get out in time. As soon as Bruce sees the explosion he swings towards the fire.

Montoya runs back into the building and begins helping get people out. When Bruce gets in the building, he begins doing the same. Once he is done, he goes back to the roof. When he doesn't see Tim, he begins looking for him. He finds him rubbing the back of his head on the rooftop.

"What happened?" Bruce asks concerned.

"I don't want to talk about it." Tim says getting in the car. Bruce gets in and without saying another word begins driving back to the Batcave.

Tim sits at the computer thinking over the clues. "Master Timothy, what are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out the last of Cluemaster's clues," Tim explains.

"But I thought that Cluemaster died in the explosion," Alfred says.

"They haven't found a body yet, plus if the cloaked figure was working with him, then the plan might still be happening."

"I understand that the hooded figure turned out to be a young lady," Alfred says. Tim grumbles an answer. "It's also in my understanding that she overpowered you."

This comment gets Tim to pay more attention. "She did not overpower me, she surprised me!"

"Mmm hmm," Alfred hums in response.

"She did!" Tim shouts.

"I was not contradicting you." Alfred says behind a smirk.

"Yeah, sure." Tim mumbles. "Anyway I just can't figure out the last clue, 'when it's closed it's open, and when it's open it's closed.'"

"It's a drawbridge," Bruce answers. "And I've figured that the target was the opening of Castleland Park Mall. For Labor Day they are holding a telethon, there will be millions in cash. Now," Bruce says looking at Tim, "I want you to go to bed, and then tomorrow you will look into the girl who you met on the rooftops." Tim nods and leaves.

In the morning, Tim heads to the Batcave to start looking into the person who he 'bumped into' last night. He gets to the computer and checks Blackgate records. He checks for anyone who visited Arthur Brown. Under the visitors is an Agnes Bellinger. He looks up the name Agnes Bellinger using the Batcomputer and finds that there is a bank account under that name. He decides to call Barbara who's hacking abilities are superior to his own, "Hey," Tim says when she picks up.

"Hey Tim," Dick answers on the other line. Tim's eyes widen.

"Dick, you know this isn't your phone right?" Tim asks nonchalantly.

Tim can just imagine how Dick looks at the moment. "Yeah, of course I do," he answers after a minute." Dick pulls the phone away from his mouth, but Tim still hears him start talking to Barbara, "Babs, I may or may not have just answered your phone. It's Tim by the way." Dick hands the phone to Barbara.

"How's it going Barbara, have fun last night?" Tim asks smiling.

"What do you need Tim?" Barbara asks.

"Oh yeah, well, you're hacking abilities are like a hundred times better than mine, and I need your help."

"What do you need?" Barbara says getting in her wheelchair and wheeling over to the supercomputer.

"Can you look into the bank account of an Agnes Bellinger? Like look for house payments. Or something like that, because I can't find any house owned by this person, so I'm hoping there is some evidence."

"Of course Tim," Barbara says cracking her fingers. He hears the sound of her fingers tapping the keyboard. "No house payments, but there are transfers to a Miss Crystal Brown."

"Would you be able to get her address for me?" Tim asks.

"Yeah I'll send it to your GPS. And Tim?"

"Yeah Babs?"

"You will not speak a word of what happened before I picked up the phone to anyone."

"Of course, by Barbara." Tim says before hanging up. He gets in his car and heads to the address. When he gets to the address he sees the blonde girl that was on the rooftop with him. He pulls out his laptop and finds out that her name is Stephanie Brown and she is the daughter of Crystal Brown and Arthur Brown.

He waits until night, then changes into his Robin costume. When he sees her start driving off on a motorcycle, so he jumps on the back of the bike. "This is a cool bike! How old do you have to be to own one of these?" Tim asks her. She turns her head to look at him, causing her to crash into a bush.

"You okay?" Tim asks her.

"Fine," she huffs. "What do you want?"

"I want to know what your father is up to." Tim says.

"You know that he's…" she starts.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you should help him."

"I wasn't helping him!" She shouts defensively. "I hate him! I want to see him rot in jail!"

"You were the one who sent the clues," Tim says, sounding like the pieces in his head just clicked.

"Wow, what a detective," Stephanie replies in mock compliment.

"Enough of one to know that there is a strong possibility that your father is still alive."

Her eyes widen in, horror? "If he is I'll find him. He'll be trying to pull off his stupid heist."

"Castleland Park right?" Tim asks.

"Maybe you really are a detective," Stephanie compliments smiling. She gets on the motorcycle.

"If you want even a chance of taking him, then you will need my help," Tim tells her. He hops on the back seat of the motorcycle. And they ride off to rondevu with Batman.

They stand on the building as Bruce debriefs Stephanie, "The autopsy has yet to come back with the identity of the blast victim. But what we do know, is that it wasn't Arthur Brown."

"I bet they used the Cutter Shark's corpse. He was the leader of the gang before my dad killed him. They probably realized I was listening in, so they only let me hear what they wanted me to," Stephanie explains. "I do know though that they will be robbing the place at the climax of the telethon, when the most money will be onsite."

"You did good for yourself. What do you call yourself?" Bruce asks.

"Well… I guess… Spoiler."

"I like that," Bruce replies smirking.

"Now let's go SPOIL my dad's plans!" Stephanie shouts.

Tim gives himself a facepalm, "You ruined the moment."

They all swing off the building together. Stephanie tries to get in the Batmobile. "You're not coming with us Stephanie."

"Why not?" She shouts offended. "He needs to be punished! He deserves to get his plans spoiled!"

"This is not just a vendetta, there are innocent lives at risk!" Bruce growls.

"Why's he get to go?" Stephanie complains pointing at Tim.

"I'm not going to argue over this, tell me what you know so I can take down your father!"

"Ok, fine here's his plan," Stephanie starts.

After she is done explaining Bruce and Tim get in the Batmobile and begin driving off. When they arrive at the telethon, a smoke bomb had just been dropped. The costumed characters take off their disguises, and are revealed to be Cluemaster and his goons,

Bruce and Tim split up taking the goons. Bruce glides and kicks one in the face. Tim does a flip over one then punches the goon in the stomach. When he doubles over in pain Tim kicks off the stage. Bruce goes after Cluemaster and Robin fights the last two goons.

He doesn't see one of them immediately, and they stab him in the back of the leg with a knife. Tim uses his bow staff to knock out the thug. The last thug picks up the knife and goes to stab Tim in the throat. Tim holds the man's arms up, but the man is bigger than he is, and it's getting harder to hold him up.

BANG! BANG! SWAT emerges on the scene and shoot the thug dead before he can kill Tim. Tim stares horrified with the thug's blood all over him and his costume. One of the officers walks over to Tim, "You okay kid?"

"Yeah… I guess," Tim responds. Just then a transport helicopter busts through the glass ceiling and lowers cables. Cluemaster attaches the cable to the container with the money inside and the helicopter begins flying. Bruce grapples onto it, as does an unexpected guest.

As Bruce climbs up he notice that Stephanie is on top fighting thugs. When she finishes taking them out, Cluemaster grabs ahold of her. He holds the gun to her temple, "Take another step and your partner gets their brains used as paint!"

"Don't do it! You will instantly regret it!"

"And why is that? Will you hurt me afterward? Perhaps I will feel bad because of my suppressed humanity?" Cluemaster asks.

"No because she is your daughter." Bruce says.

Cluemaster's eyes widen as he rips the mask off of Stephanie. "What… Stephanie? Wh… why?"

"Because you destroyed my life!" She shouts punching him. She takes a chain on the ground and begins strangling her father.

"Stephanie, don't!" Bruce shouts.

"Why shouldn't I?" She asks intrigued at the answer he will give.

"Because he hurt you. But if you end him, it won't be him who ruined your life. It will be you." She drops the chain letting him breathe. She puts on her mask as the police helicopters begin swarming the scene. And her and Batman depart.


	11. Young Justice

**A/N: Thanks for the support. I'm glad that my first story has gotten so many reviews and is being enjoyed, it really inspires me to write more often.**

It's been a hectic couple of months for Wally. First, his mentor and Uncle, Barry Allen seemingly died. So then as a result of that, he has to take up the mantle of the Flash. And then some kid pops up, out of nowhere declaring that he is Barry's grandson from the future, yeah, ok.

It's been a crazy year for Clark. He died at the hands of Doomsday, then he wakes up and found out he was cloned. He finds the clone, and starts teaching the kid how to use his powers. And he also asked Lois to marry him.

This year was emotionally damaging for Bruce. First, his son was brutally tortured and killed at the hand of the Joker. Then someone who he views as his daughter was paralyzed and stripped her of her dignity by the same man. Then he tries to reason with the clown only to find that there is no point, for he is at the point of no return.

However, it has been good to him as well. He met Timothy Jackson Drake, his current Robin. A smart kid with strong determination. Plus Barbara overcame her paralysis and became the guardian Oracle. And he helped stop a girl from killing her criminal father. Plus, him and Dick have never been closer.

Clark is in Metropolis fighting Amazo along with Conner, the human name of Superboy. Superman thought it was going well, that is until Amazo starts using his powers. First he fires heat vision. Conner narrowly dodges the beam.

"CRAP!" Conner shouts. "Is he supposed to be able to do that?"

"Didn't think so!" Clark shouts back in return dodging the flurry of punches that Amazo is sending his way. Clark starts using his freeze breath on the android slowing him down. Clark lets out a sigh of relief when Amazo stops moving. Clark turns to tell Conner, when Amazo reaches out, grabs Superman and uses freeze breath.

"Superboy, he seems to adapt to powers. I'm going to call the League." Clark tells Conner.

"Won't he just get more powers?" Conner asks.

"Well he has my powers, so if I call Flash he won't get any new powers, since I too have speed, and if we call Batman, he'll kick the things butt."

"Unless Batman has had powers the entire time and just neglected to tell anyone!" Conner shouts back.

Clark rolls his eyes and puts his index finger to his comm. "Superman calling Watchtower."

"We read you Superman, what do you need?" Martian Manhunter asks on the other end.

"J'onn, can you please connect me to a private line with Flash and Batman?" Clark asks.

"Done."

"Hey Clark, why'd you wanna talk to me privately? Am I getting fired?" Wally rambles on the other end.

"Wally, you're not being fired." Clark says. Clark hears Wally let out a sigh of relief.

"Why are you calling us so early?" Bruce says on the comm.

"Early? Bruce it's two in the afternoon." Clark says puzzled.

"I just laid down, I've been up for the past 72 hours." Bruce growls.

"I'm sorry, but I need both of your help. I'm fighting this android and it can adapt to superpowers."

"And you want Flash since his power is super speed, which is already an ability you gave the robot, and you want me because I have no powers."

Wally's voice cuts through the silence, "I wouldn't say you have no power, I'd say your power is being super rich."

Bruce ignores Wally's comment and aims his next inquire at Clark, "Where are you?"

"Outside the Daily Planet." Clark answers quickly.

"I'll be there in fifteen."

"I'll be there in a flash."

Bruce groans at Wally's joke, and gets out of bed. He heads down the stairs and as he walks by Alfred he asks, "Has Tim gone home yet?"

"No sir, not yet." Alfred replies.

"Good, tell him to suit up. We leave in five." Bruce heads down the stairs of the Batcave and gets into his uniform. Tim comes down quickly and in costume.

"What do you need Bruce?" Tim inquires.

Bruce begins walking toward the jet and Tim follows, "Metropolis," Bruce answers. Tim doesn't ask anymore questions, he just hops in the Batplane.

When they arrive in Metropolis shortly after, Tim sees Superman flying at somebody, as well as a red streak blazing across the streets. Behind the Man of Steel is a boy around Tim's age dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and behind Flash is another streak but of white and red. Bruce jumps out but order Tim, "stay in here and fire at the guy that Superman is fighting."

Tim nods as he takes control of the batplane. He flies towards Superman and see that the guy he's fighting, isn't as guy at all, it's a robot. He turns a switch that switches from rubber bullets to live rounds. He sees no civilians on the ground, so he begins firing.

The android looks at him, and he looks pissed. The android starts flying at him. Tim fires a missile and ejects from the plane to safety. He lands and begins running. "I told you to stay in the plane!" Bruce shouts.

The android flies through the plane making it explode. "What plane?" Tim asks. Bruce jumps off the building and grapples onto another. Tim does the same, except the android uses heat vision to blast his line. As Tim is falling he is caught by the red and white streak.

"Imp!" Tim shouts at his long haired friend.

"Good to see you too Rob." Bart replies to Tim. The android starts flying towards them. Bart begins running with Tim in his arms.

When they are safe Tim asks, "You know you can put me down now, right?"

"Yeah, of course Rob," Bart replies putting Tim back on the ground.

"Thanks for the save." Tim tells him.

"Yeah, no problem," Bart answers. They see a boy wearing a t-shirt and jeans get knocked out of the sky, and he's heading toward them! They both run out of the immediate path of him. When he crashes they look at him on the ground. He gets up slowly at first, and Bart and Tim help him. "Sorry dude, I would've caught you, but you were coming in too fast," Bart explains.

"Don't worry man, I've got tactile telekinesis, it protected me from the damage." Conner explains.

"Ok," Bart enunciates, and Conner goes back to trying to attack the android.

"Tim," Bruce says over comms, "I'm going to connect all of us through the comms, tell Impulse and Superboy."

"Kay. Imp, Batman is putting all of us on one line, kay?" Tim asks. Bart nods in response.

"This is Batman, can everyone hear me?" Bruce asks.

"Yep," Tim and Bart reply in unison.

"Yes we can Bats!" Wally shouts.

"We can too," Clark tells them from him and Conner.

"Okay. We need to have an organized attack on the android. I've contacted Watchtower, and they cannot spare any powerless heroes. They have said that Wonder Woman can come help, since she has similar powers to Superman, but we don't know how the android will take to magic. If it gets. Hold of magic it can hurt Superman and Superboy," Bruce explains.

"So what are you thinking for the attack?" Tim asks.

"Wanna test if he has the same weaknesses as Superman?" Bruce asks.

"It's worth a shot," Clark says. "I'll lead him over to the empty construction area."

"I'll come with," Wally announces, "you're going to need someone to get you out of there after Batman uses the kryptonite."

"Robin, Impulse, and Superboy, I need you three to help distract Amazo once we get over there! Everyone understand? Ok, GO!"

Bart grabs ahold of Tim and Conner and rushes them over to the construction site. Tim instinctively grapples to higher ground and waits for the android. He sees the red blur and the red and blue blur, and knows that they are coming, "Get ready!" Tim shouts. Bart and Conner get in fighting stances. Amazo appears in front of them along with Clark and Wally.

"Yo! Slow ass!" Bart shouts at Amazo chucking a rock at him. Amazo turns to look at him and Conner rushes into him, tackling him. Amazo falls over and Tim throws two flashbang grenades at him. They explode and the robot stands stunned.

Tim jumps off of his vantage point and takes out his bow staff. He presses a button and the ends of the bow staff start glowing with electricity shooting of of it. Tim hits the android in the face electrocuting him, then again in the stomach, then he goes for another hit it Amazo catches the staff. He flick Tim and he goes flying.

Conner rushes out and catches the flying Tim. He puts him down and goes to attack the android. Conner rushes over and Bart follows suit. Conner punches the robot's head, while Bart swipes at its feet. The android goes flying and before he makes contact with the ground, Clark catches him. Conner picks up a spare metal rod. Clark hurls the android towards Conner, and Conner hits the robot into the ground.

The robot begins getting up and Bruce rushes in, "Flash get Superman out now! Same thing Impulse run Superboy out now!" As he says this he opens up the box he had in his hand containing Kryptonite. Clark feels weak for a second, then feels fine again as he notices he is no longer at the construction area. The android falls to his knees.

With Clark, Wally, Bart, and Conner gone, it leave the two powerless heroes there. "Robin, plant charges on the ears of Amazo!" Bruce shouts. Tim does as told and quickly. He hands the trigger to Bruce, and Bruce pushes the button. Amazo's head flies clean off leaving an oily mess.

"The threat has been neutralized, Batman out," Bruce announces over the comm. The heroes throw up their hands in triumph. Bruce puts the kryptonite back in its pouch on his belt, and all the heroes regroup.

"Good job kids," Clark states. "You showed better teamwork there then the League showed on its first mission."

"Thanks Clark," Conner says hugging his fatherly figure.

"Hey, so Nightwing told me about this tradition he had with Wally and Red Arrow to go out in costume and get food. You wanna go get something?" Tim asks Bart and Conner.

"Are you kidding? I'm starved, of course I would." Bart replies. Conner smiles. "Okay lead the way Superboy, this being your hometown." Conner begins walking with the two boys following behind.

Wally begins following them as well. "Wally? Where do you think you're going?" Clark asks.

"I'm hungry too!" Wally answers.

"C'mon, food on me," Bruce says, "but we are changing first."

"Fine by me." Wally announces he runs into the alley and when he comes out a second later, he is dressed in civilian attire. Clark sees a phone booth and using his super speed, quickly changes back into his reporter outfit. Bruce walks into an alley and about a minute later he walks out as Bruce Wayne.

"So, where are we going?" Wally asks. Bruce groans, but smirks to himself.


	12. The War of Gotham's Underworld

**A/N: Warning this chapter contains an extensive torture scene along with strong language.**

Tim's dad made him quit being Robin a little over three months ago. And what annoys him even more is that his ex girlfriend is the new Robin. Or she was, until she was fired by Bruce for disobeying him in the field.

After what happened to Jason, Bruce doesn't put up with any disobedience. Stephanie however, wasn't going to let this stop her. She continues going out as Robin, and every time she encounters Bruce he growls the same thing, "Don't let me find you out here again!"

And she always responds the same way, "Go to hell!"

One night she decides she is going to do surveillance out of costume. She's been hearing that Black Mask is going to make a move on Penguin, so she's decided to check out one of Black Mask's casino and see if she hears anything.

She gets there around five. Black Mask just walked in. She uses a fake i.d. to get in. She stays close to Black Mask's table and tries to listen in on if his conversation. Hoping he slips up and talks about the supposed gang war.

Eventually he realizes that she's trying to listen in. He whispers to one of his guards, "See the blonde at the table across from ours?" The guard nods. "Good, I'm going to go to my private room, when she follows, grab her and knock her out. Then bring her to me." Black mask stands up and addresses the table, "Sorry men, I have some… business that needs to be attended to."

He walks away and towards his private room downstairs in the basement. She stealthily follows as he predicted. She does a good job of sneaking, that the guard doesn't even realize she left right away. Once he does though, he goes to wear Black Mask said he was going. He sees the girl standing outside the door.

She hears him walking up, but he is a lot bigger than she is. And he has a gun. He reaches for the gun and she charges at him. She jumps up and flips over him. She begins running for the stairs leading upstairs only to find that the door leading to the stairs has been locked. "Crap," she mutters to herself.

She runs back towards the guard and slides underneath, getting a punch to the balls in as she slides beneath him. The man double over in pain. Stephanie tries to find a way out, but by the time she checks all the doors and finds nothing, the guard is back on his feet. He pulls out his gun and aims at her.

He's quick, but she moves quicker. She disarms him then hits him in the head with his own gun. The man falls over, incapacitated. However, what she doesn't realize is that Black Mask is behind her. He injects her with a fluid making her feel drowsy and then fall to the ground unconscious.

When she wakes up she is handcuffed to the ceiling in some sort of torture chamber. Her feet touch the ground, but the handcuffs are tight. She hears the door creak open and sees a silhouette enter. "Well, well, well. Penguin's got quite a bitch working for him! I mean you took out my guard with ease," Black Mask says pacing back and forth. "It's safe to say that he's not going to be having children."

"Good, he would suck at being a father anyway," Stephanie declares.

Black Mask back hands her, "Did I say you could talk, bitch?" She mumbles and he puts his ear closer to her mouth. She takes the opportunity to spit blood in face. Black Mask punches her in the stomach, "What? Does the bitch not know any manners?" He asks repeatedly punching her. She coughs out blood.

"What do you want?" Stephanie asks.

"I want, for the bitch to tell me all of Penguin's plans." He says almost calm.

"I don't work for Penguin." She coughs out.

He gets up in her face and shouts angrily, "DON'T YOU FUCKING LIE TO ME BITCH!" Them he seems to be calm again, "Because if you do lie, I will hurt you."

"I don't work for Penguin," she says.

He takes out a knife and puts it in a fire she hadn't noticed before. He pulls it out of the fire, and the blade steams with heat. He takes the knife and stabs her in the thigh. "What did I say about lying?" He asks completely calm. "If you lie, YOU GET FUCKING HURT!" She cries out in agony. "You want to tell me the truth now?"

She uses one of her free legs and kicks Black Mask in the gut. She smiles a bloody smile, when he shouts in pain and anger. He walks back over to her and before she can even think of kicking him, he stabs her other leg. She winces at the pain.

"Feisty eh? Good, it'll make it more interesting." Black Mask says as he takes the knife and stabs her abdomen. Once. Twice. Her purple dress that she is wearing turns a crimson. "What do you know about Penguin's plan?"

"I swear, I don't work for Penguin," she spits out. He looks at her and smiles.

"Okay, I'll humor you, who do you work for then?" He asks.

"No one!" She shouts.

He stabs her abdomen again, "The knife doesn't believe you, and neither do I." He puts the knife away and opens up a tool box. He pulls out a screwdriver. "You wanna tell me who you work for yet?" She shakes her head no in response. In retaliation, he takes the screwdriver and plunges it into her side. In and then out.

Her side and stomach aches with pain. She knows she probably won't make it out alive.

Meanwhile in Gotham, Penguin has rallied his men and is converging on Black Mask's Casino. The GCPD stands in the middle of the two gangs trying to deter them. Penguin really doesn't care that cops are involved though. "Eh, Gordon? Go piss off, this doesn't concern you!" He shouts.

"Oswald Cobblepot, please put down your weapon and order your men to stand down!" Gordon shouts through a bullhorn.

"No can do, see Sionis is trying to make a mockery of me family. And that can't happen. I must defend me family pride. Now I'm warning you, get out of the way or you'll end up dead!"

The SWAT team that Gordon leads, readies their riot shields. "If that's the way you want it. FIRE!" Penguin shouts.

A bullet flies towards Gordon, when out of nowhere a teenage girl in black with dark hair swings in, and knocks him out of the way. "Thank you," Gordon says to her. She nods her head in response and grapples back onto a building. She runs toward Penguin and his men. She jumps down and begins taking out his men.

She is an extremely efficient fighter. She punches one in the throat, then takes him and throws him at two others. One of the thug's aims at her and she grabs the gun and aims it towards the sky. The thug tries firing but only manages to scare the other thugs. She kicks the thug in the back of the leg making him fall over. She grapples out again and thee police converge on the Penguin and his men.

"Good job Cassandra," Bruce says to the teenage girl.

She smiles and says, "Th… thank… you." Bruce smiles in return and refocuses on the battle. The police have the advantage, and force Penguin to retreat.

Back in the torture chamber, Stephanie is bruised, bloody, and beaten, but she will not give in. Black Mask takes his knife and slits her skin along her upper arm. A tear falls from her eye as she feels the pain. Black Mask notices that she is unable to fight back, and uncuffs one of her hand restraints.

Her arm falls limp and he takes her hand and puts the knife through it. She screams a blood curling scream, trying to fight back the tears. Black Mask hears the door fly open and he looks toward it annoyed. "What did I say about interrupting me!"

"Yeah, I know boss, but I just got word from the boys, Penguin attacked the club!" The thug tells him.

"GOD FUCKING DAMMIT! Does no one understand that it's impolite to attack the kingdom when the king is away!? C'mon you're with me." Black Mask shouts at the guard.

"But boss, what about the girl."

"Does the bitch look like she's going anywhere?" Black Mask retorts. They both leave the room, and Stephanie hears a car outside start and drive away.

After a few minutes she is able to pull her now bloodied wrist from the restraint. She hobbles crookedly towards the door, having to clutch onto something for support every so often. She opens the door and it begins to sink in that she's no longer at the club/casino. She walks wearily out the door and into the street. She recognizes the street, she's only about a few blocks away from Gotham City General.

She begins walking and along the way she falls. A cop pulls up next to her. She recognizes the cop too. "Detective… Bull… Bullock. Please… need help." She mutters.

Bullock looks at her and his eyes widen. "God, you need immediate medical attention, hold on." He picks her up and puts her in the back of the car. "Don't worry we'll be at the hospital quickly. Don't worry you'll be okay." He tells her sounding as if he's trying to convince himself not her.

They pull up at the hospital and Bullock rushes in, "Detective Bullock, I found a severely wounded young woman. Needs immediate attention!"

"Where is she?" One of the doctors asks.

"Back of my car," Bullock says leading them to her. They lift her onto a gurney and begin wheeling her away with Bullock following.

She pulls Bullock close and whispers in his ear, "Tell them to get Dr. Leslie Thompkins."

"She's requesting a Dr. Leslie Thompkins," He says as a doctor exits a room.

"I'm Leslie Thompkins… oh my god. She needs attention quick. She's going to need a blood transfusion!"

When the transfusion is complete Stephanie calls Leslie near. "Call Bruce, he needs to know where I am."

"You work for…" Leslie begins.

"Yes. I'm Stephanie Brown."

"You're Tim's girlfriend correct?" Leslie asks.

"Yeah," Stephanie coughs out. Leslie leaves the room and goes to get the emergency communicator and calls Bruce.

"Bruce, get down here now! Someone is in the hospital that you'll want to see. Bring Tim too."

Bruce and Tim arrive out of costume and wait in the reception area. Leslie walks up to them. "Come with me now," she commands in a stern voice. They do as instructed. Leslie leads them into a room and locks the door behind them.

"I THOUGHT YOU WOULD HAVE LEARNED BRUCE!" Leslie shouts at him pointing towards Stephanie. Tim runs over to Stephanie's hospital bed. He sits at her side. His heart breaks staring at her bruised and bloodied face.

A tear slips from his eye, "Stephanie," he mutters.

"I barely got her stabilized Bruce. This is what happens to your protégées." She says once again pointing at Stephanie. Bruce can't look at Stephanie it's too hard.

"Thank you Leslie," he says.

"Don't, this is the last time I'm helping you. I can't be around this." She says, "They follow you blindly towards the abyss and are willing to die for you! I'm not going to perform on another half dead child!" Bruce nods and Leslie walks out of the room.

"Tim," Bruce says putting his hand on Tim's shoulder.

Tim shakes him off, "Don't." Tim sits by Stephanie in silence. And then the heart monitor starts beating erratically. Leslie rushes in and tries to stop the erraticness, and then Stephanie's pulse stops altogether. A couple of more doctors come in with a defibrillator and use it. She remains still. They try again. Nothing.

"Ok, call it, time of death is 11:02 pm." Tim stands there in shock as the tears fall. When he comes out of his shock, he walks out of the room and doesn't look back. Bruce follows behind him, but Tim doesn't listen as Bruce shouts.


	13. Back From The Dead

**Author's Note: keep an eye out for my new story which should be on the site soon,** **The Evolution of Batman and Batgirl.**

Tick. Tick. Tick. Boom. Jason's life flashes before his eyes. He sees a white light and begins walking towards. As he is about to walk into it he is yanked from it.

His eyes widen and he feels immediate pain. He looks at his body, which is covered in a glowing green water. He has scarring on his chest as well as his hands that wasn't there before. He looks around and sees what appears to be cave walls.

He looks to the top of the cave and sees Ra's al Ghul and his daughter, Talia al Ghul, standing side by side observing him. He is going crazy. Emotions and thoughts flow through him. Fear, anger, depression, and confusion.

Before he has time to process his emotions, armed guards begin walking towards him. Two with semi automatic rifles and the other two with pistols. He knows Ra's wouldn't have wasted the Lazarus Pit on someone he was going to kill, so he decides to not fight the armed men.

They lead him to a training room, and tell him to wait there. He sits down and begins thinking. Why did he need the Lazarus Pit? What happened to him? He starts trying to remember what happened last, but he can't.

The last thing he remembers is looking for Joker with Bruce on patrol. When they couldn't find him after twenty four hours, Bruce decided they should both rest. He doesn't remember anything after that though.

He is so deep in thought that he doesn't realize Ra's walked into the room. "Boy," Ra's says getting Jason's attention.

"What the hell happened to me?" Jason shouts at Ra's.

"I told Talia that this was a bad idea," he mutters to himself. "You are experiencing memory loss. We used the Pit as quickly as we could, but it might not have been quick enough." Ra's explains as he paces with his hands behind his back.

"Just tell me what happened to me," Jason says trembling.

"The maniac killed you and your birth mother," Ra's says, not even trying to sugarcoat it. "Talia, my daughter, thought it would be useful to bring you back. She went behind my back and did so anyway. As you were put in I was just discovering what happened.

"While I was aggravated by your death, I would have never brought you back had it not been for Talia. However since she did, I want to find out if there any side effects. I'm going to send four men in here, I want you to take them out." And with that Ra's walks out of the room with the doors shutting behind him.

As he said four men enter the room. They all have weapons. Two have swords, the other two have daggers. One of the men with daggers goes to stab Jason in the stomach. Jason easily catches the dagger in between his hands and kicks the man in the leg. The man falls to the ground and Jason punches him, hard, knocking him out.

The next man comes in with a sword he slashes at Jason, who simply moves out of the way. Using the dagger that he pocketed from the previous man, he throws the dagger at the sword, knocking it out of his hand. Jason runs up to him and punches him in the stomach. Once. Twice. Three times, then delivers a roundhouse kick to the man's sternum. Over the speaker Ra's announces, "I said 'take them out' not knock them out. Murder them. Murder them like Joker murdered you."

These words make Jason shake violently with anger and rage. He takes the fallen man's sword and stabs him, sheathing the sword in its owner. The next two men attack simultaneously. The man with the sword goes low, while the one with the dagger goes high.

The man carrying the sword swipes at his feet, but Jason jumps over the sword and kicks the man in the head as he avoids the sword. This knocks over the man with the sword, but the man with the dagger now begins at attacking more ferociously. Jason dodges all of motions delivered to end him. Jason uses his sword to block the dagger and kicks the man with the dagger in the balls.

The man clutches his stomach as he falls over. Jason puts his sword to the man's throat. In one swift motion Jason ends his life too. The man with the sword begins getting up. He swings wildly with his sword, Jason blocking each attack. Jason blocks an attack and swings. He turns away and hears an object hit the ground. He doesn't have to turn around to know that it's the man's head, which he just cut clean off.

When he is done killing them he can't believe what he has done. His eyes widen at at blood covering his hands and sword. He drops the sword onto the ground and shouts nowhere in particular, "This is your fault! You made me kill them!"

"I didn't do anything. One of the side effects of the Lazarus Pit is a bloodlust. You should be able to control it eventually," Ra's says nonchalantly. The doors open and Jason charges, not caring who is entering.

At the door stands Talia along with two guards. Jason attacks the two guards with the sword, impaling one and dueling with the other. He swings quickly, but effectively at the second guard, slashing open his chest. As he turns around to attack Talia he realizes she is holding a gun to his head. "GO AHEAD! DO IT!" Jason shouts tears rolling down his face. The sword falls from his hands and he drops to his knees trembling.

Talia bends down to his level and brings the frightened child close, "It's okay," she whispers into his ear. He accepts her embrace and leans into her.

Two months later, he sits across the table from Talia at a bar and grill. "I hope you understand how difficult it was sneaking you away from my father. He wanted you dead."

"I know, and I'm thankful. But, I want to know why," Jason responds.

"Jason, Joker is still alive." Talia says making Jason's eyes widen in anger and doubt.

"He wouldn't have left…"

"And he crippled Miss Gordon," Talia says. Jason clenches his fist and smashes it on the table.

"Why the HELL DIDN'T BRUCE KILL HIM!" Jason shouts enraged.

"His morals no doubt, but that doesn't mean that you can't. I have recourses. I can send you around the world, so you can learn valuable skills."

"What's first?" Jason asks.

The plane flies through the stormy sky trying to get Jason to his destination. "I'm sorry," the pilot says, "but I can't take you any further. This is a war zone."

"How the hell am I getting down there then?" Jason asks. The hangar door opens and Jason nods his head. He grabs a parachute and begins sprinting out the hangar door.

Jason dives head first toward the war torn land. When he is about two thousand feet to the ground, he begins deploying his parachute. He lands flawlessly and begins running for cover. He is going to Kahndaq to train with one of the world's best sharpshooters.

He gets to the meeting place about twenty minutes earlier than expected. When he gets there he sees the silhouette of his trainer.

The man steps out of the shadow and Jason immediately recognizes him. He is wanted in several countries, and many people have put bounties on his head. His dark hair, mustache and goatee make him instantly recognizable. "So, you're the rich kid I'm training." The man says.

"Yeah Lawton," Jason responds.

"So how did you find me anyway?" Floyd Lawton asks.

"I didn't. The people that are training me wanted to get some training with snipers. And they wanted the best, so they hired you." Jason explains.

"Fair enough, you gonna tell me who you're working for?" Lawton asks.

"Don't they pay you enough not to ask?" Jason asks sounding aggravated by the questions.

"Fair enough. What should I call you?" Lawton asks.

Jason thinks of the man who caused all of the pain in his life. He thinks of his unknown origin. But, he also thinks of Bruce's theory about how he was the… "Red Hood." Jason tells Lawton firmly.

Lawton extends his hand, "Nice to meet you Mr. Hood." Jason accepts the gesture and shakes his hand.

After training with Floyd for a little under a year he departs Kahndaq and goes to meet up with Talia again. He contacts her and tells her to meet him at the same bar and grill as last time. He arrives early as usual. He enters and goes to sit down.

Talia enters a few minutes later and sits down in the booth. She is accompanied by one of her personal guards, but he just stands by the door. She puts a folder on the table without saying a word.

"What is this?" Jason asks. She motions toward the folder telling him to open it.

He opens it and his eyes widen. "Those pictures were taken yesterday by spies I have in Gotham." Jason looks at the pictures enraged.

He stares down wondering, "How Bruce could just replace me?" Talia feels bad looking at him. She sees the obvious pain that he is going through. "HOW COULD HE DO THIS! First, he lets the man that killed me still roam the earth. Then, he replaces me!" Everyone at the bar look at Jason, then go back to what they were doing previously. "I'm going back to Gotham." Jason announces.

He goes to get up but Talia grabs his arm, "No, not yet. You still need more training before you can take on him."

Jason looks at her annoyed, but knowing that she is right. He sits back down. "Who do you suggest I go to next?"

"The League of Assassins once had a great assassin who it used. His name is Ben Turner, The Bronze Tiger. He is now hiding out in Asia. He has agreed to train you in more forms of martial arts and train you in close range weapons."

"When do I start?" Jason asks.

The situation seems familiar to Jason. Once again he is on a plane, flying in stormy weather. However, this time it is not a cargo plane, it is a private jet, and he doesn't have to jump. The plane touches down in China and Jason begins getting out and Talia yells to him, "He will be in Beijing at the Yonghe Temple at five o'clock. Do not be late."

It's not too far of a walk for Jason, but it's tiring nonetheless. With the blistering heat and crowded city, it's exhausting.

Jason gets to the temple by four thirty, and begins waiting for his latest teacher. Bronze Tiger shows up promptly at five o'clock, and scans the crowd for Jason. He finds Jason before Jason finds him. He walks up behind him and begins speaking, "Mr. Todd I presume?"

"Mr. Turner," Jason says turning around, "you would be correct in that assumption. How did you find me so quickly? I didn't even see you enter."

"Americans stick out like a sore thumb in China," Turner tells him.

"So, you are going to train me in martial arts?" Jason asks.

"Much more than just martial arts. I will teach you observing techniques, stealth techniques, give you weapon training and more," Turner explains to Jason.

In this encounter it is Jason who offers his hand, "Well thank you for offering to train me."

"Of course," Turner says taking Jason's hand.

After a year and a half of training with him, Jason decides to leave. "Thank you again Master Turner." Turner bows and Jason bows in return. Jason takes his suitcase, now packed with sais, nunchucks, bronze knuckles, and throwing stars.

Jason walks to the airfield that Ra's owns and meets Talia. He boards the plane and sits in a seat. "How did your training go?" Talia asks him.

"It went extremely well, I think I'm ready to take on Gotham. I'm ready to take on him."


	14. Under the Red Hood Part I

**A/N: Sorry for not posting in a couple of days. This storyline is going to be a two parter. Originally it was going to be one chapter, but I like smaller chapter size of about two thousand to three thousand, and this is going to be at least six thousand. Anyway hope you enjoy.**

Jason waits for the drug dealers to show up. Everyone has been much more cautious ever since the crime war between Black Mask and Penguin, ended with a bloodied Penguin being dragged through the streets by Black Mask. Black Mask took over all of Penguin's turf and Penguin hasn't been seen since.

However, there are still signs of Penguin in Gotham. Many of his chiefs and lieutenants are still in the city, but have rolled over to Black Mask. Black Mask now rules from Iceberg Lounge. The police are still trying to build a case on Black Mask, however so far he hasn't been caught doing anything illegal. All of the men who were fighting Penguin's men and the police, who were taken into custody have mysteriously died.

The bosses show up and look around for who called them there. Jason steps out of the shadows and announces, "Everyone Shut UP! I called you here."

"Who the hell are you?! And what the hell do you want?!" One of the men shouts.

"You can call me the Red Hood, and I want to make an offer. You are some of the most prosperous street dealers in Gotham. I will offer protection from Black Mask in exchange for forty percent of your profits. But you aren't allowed to deal to children. You understand? Do we have a deal?" Jason asks through a voice scrambler in his helmet.

The dealers look amongst themselves and mumble to each other. Finally one of them shouts up to Jason, "You got a deal!"

Jason smiles under his Red mask, "Good."

Tim runs the rooftops, patrolling alone, just like he has since the gang war in Gotham. He and Bruce haven't been the same since then. It also doesn't help that recently Tim's dad was killed by Captain Boomerang. Since this has happened, Tim goes off more by himself, distancing himself from Bruce. And Bruce, following what happened to Stephanie, has been trying to stay as close to Tim as possible. Both dealing with the loss in different ways.

Right now Tim is patrolling Old Gotham, specifically Crime Alley, when he sees a group of dealers walk out of a building. He watches longer and sees figure in a leather jacket wearing a red helmet step out of the same building. He begins running closer to see what's going on. He gets close to the man in the red helmet. "You can come out," Jason announces not looking behind him, "you don't have to pretend that you're not there."

Tim jumps down from his vantage point and out of the shadows. "Who the hell are you?" He asks.

"So you're the new kid." Jason cracks his knuckles, "This is going to be interesting." Tim charges at Jason throwing batarangs as he runs. Jason dodges the batarangs with ease, even catching one of them. He takes his newly acquired projectile and throws it back at Tim. Tim takes out his bow staff and knocks the batarang away. Tim swings at Jason and Jason blocks the blow. "I see Batman isn't just throwing kids into this war, who don't have any training, anymore," Jason comments.

Tim swings again harder. Jason catches the swing and pulls Tim close. Jason punches Tim in the gut twice. Tim continues fighting even though he is clearly out of breath. Tim throws a right hook and Jason parries it. Tim continues taking swings and Jason continues dodging. Finally Jason kicks Tim in the back of the leg knocking Tim over. Jason takes Tim's bo staff and hits Tim over the head with it. Jason takes the bo staff and breaks it over his knee.

He walks over to Tim and takes the comm out of his ear. He takes a piece of his tech and attaches it to the comm, hacking into it. "Who the hell is this?" Bruce growls on the other side of the comm.

"I see that you actually train your sidekicks now. Guess you really did learn something after Robin died. Though obviously not enough, since teenagers are still dying on your watch," Jason replies.

Jason knows exactly which buttons to push with Bruce. He hears on the other line Bruce grit his teeth and growl louder and angrier than before, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT!?"

"Just a friendly warning to keep a better watch of your sidekicks," Jason says with a smirk after he hears a chair fall over on the other side of the comm. Jason takes Tim and grapples onto the top of a building leaving him there tied. "Nothing personal, just sending a message," Jason says walking away. He knows that it'll take Bruce at least twenty minutes to get here, but he also knows that Robin will be fine, he left him on a roof top that isn't accessible, any other way than grappling. He was sending a message but that didn't mean he wanted another kid to suffer his fate.

Tim wakes up tied to the chimney of a building. He takes a batarang and begins cutting through the wire. Before he can finish though, Bruce appears. Bruce walks over to him silent and cuts him free from the wire. The jump off the building and hop into the Batmobile.

The ride to the Batcave is silent. They pull inside the Cave and both exit. Tim figure Bruce was pretty worried because Dick and Cassandra are both waiting anxiously in costume along with Barbara and Alfred. Dick runs over to his adopted brother and pulls him into a tight hug, "My god Tim, you had all of us so worried."

"Hurt?" Cassandra asks.

"No, I'm fine Cass," Tim responds.

"Master Tim, what happened?" Alfred asks.

Bruce seems to break out of his silence and shouts, "WHAT HAPPENED WAS HE WENT OUT ON HIS OWN AGAIN AND ALMOST GOT KILLED!" Bruce boils with anger and worry. He rubs his temple, "Going out alone is what got Jason killed. And the same with Stephanie. Please, I can't lose another son." Everybody looks at Bruce strangely. He is not usually one to admit what he is feeling, and so openly? It's almost unheard of.

Tim has a look of defeat on his face, along with regret. "I'm sorry Bruce. It's just since Stephanie died, and then my dad it's just been difficult."

"I know," Bruce says putting a hand on his adoptive son's shoulder, "but we are all here for you." Tim nods. "Good, now that you're back, you're relieved from being Robin for the next three months, unless told otherwise by myself."

"WHAT!? Are you kidding?" Tim shouts.

"Yeah Bruce that is a little extreme," Dick agrees.

"Dick I don't think you understand the severity of the situation. Tim encountered a new player. First, he didn't alert any of us, instead choosing to attack without knowing who he was dealing with. And then, he got knocked out. His comm got taken and hacked into. And he got left tied to a building. He could've been killed!"

"I understand that, but three months just seems a little extreme," Dick counters.

"I agree Bruce. Three months is a long time. You might want to punish him, but also remember what three months of not being in the field can do to your skills," Barbara justifies.

"Master Bruce, not to step out of my place, but I completely agree with Master Dick. I would say that one month is a more justifiable punishment." Alfred says.

Bruce looks between Dick and Alfred, and then looks at Barbara and Cassandra. All of their eyes saying that they agree that one month is more fair. "Fine," Bruce exhales, "one month of not being Robin."

Tim is not thrilled by the punishment but he'll take what he can get. Bruce storms off and Alfred goes to follow. As Alfred begins walking away Tim stops him, "Thank you Alfred."

"Just be more careful Master Timothy. None of us want to see you get hurt," Alfred says walking away.

Tim turns back to Dick, Barbara, and Cass. "Thanks Dick. Thanks Babs."

"Don't thank me. We all know what it's like working with Bruce, sometimes you just need time away from him. But also remember where he's coming from. Yeah, you lost Stephanie, but he did too. And he feels responsible for her death. He also lost Jason, and you remember what he was like after he… passed," Dick explains.

"I couldn't have said that any better," Barbara says. Barbara, Dick and Tim hug, and Dick and Barbara begin exiting the Batcave.

"Spar?" Cassandra asks. "Maybe... make you feel… better," she offers.

"Sure Cass," Tim accepts walking over to the sparring mats with his adoptive sister. They begin their match. It's a good match, but Cassandra still beats Tim relatively easily. After all, she was trained to know her opponent's next move before they do.

Jason has been pissing off Black Mask for almost an entire week now. He's been either killing or hiring his men and Black Mask can't do anything about it. Jason has also been stealing some of Black Mask's money in his spare time. Hacking into some of his bank accounts and giving back to poorer neighborhoods.

Jason knows he is going to snap soon. And when a person snaps, they do some pretty crazy things.

Tim hasn't patrolled Gotham in almost a week. And all that he's gotten to do is work with Barbara. Don't get him wrong, he loves Barbara like a sister, it's just, well she could do all of this work in her sleep without his help. He feels like he slows her down, though she seems to enjoy the company.

Bruce has been patrolling with Cassandra more often and even Dick occasionally. Whenever Cassandra is out though, he makes sure to go with her. Ever since this new player has shown up Bruce has been on edge. Something about this guy just seems so familiar, the way he talks, the way he sounds.

It's Bruce and Dick on patrol tonight. They are going to check out a suspected off the books Black Mask warehouse, where he stores drugs and weapons. Bruce and Dick are almost there. They have the building in their sights. And that's when it happens. KABOOM. The warehouse goes up in smoke.

Bruce and Dick see a figure running away from the exploded warehouse, so they begin chasing him. When they get nearer, they realize that this guy fits the description of the guy who attacked Tim. They start running harder.

Jason realizes he is being followed and decides to put on a little bit of a show. He jumps off the building and lands flawlessly on the one below it. He continues running and and jumps, crashing through a skylight. Bruce and Dick follow.

Once they are inside, Bruce realizes where this mysterious person has led them to. He looks at the railing of the chemical plant's catwalk as he remembers one of his first nights as Batman. The night he encountered the mysterious Red Hood. "Ah, good memories am I right? Site of your fourth biggest failure." Jason says from a catwalk above them.

"Who the hell are you?" Bruce shouts to him.

"Yeah and where'd you get that helmet?" Dick asks.

"Name's Red Hood, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Right now there are bombs attached to those chemical containers. You have two minutes before they go off. You can either save the people inside and around the plant, or you can chase me. Your choice. And remember the clock is ticking," Jason announces running off.

Bruce is about to start talking, but Dick shout at him, "Go, I'll get everybody at the plant out." Bruce nods and begins chasing after Jason. Dick jumps down to all the guards and worker and yells at them, "HEY! There are bombs in here! GET THE HELL OUT!" The workers begin running towards the doors. Dick continues checking the rest of the chemical plant for any workers he could've missed. Once he's sure everyone is out, he exits the building. He orders everyone to get as far away from the building as possible.

Bruce chases Jason out of the building, and as soon as they get outside, Jason jumps in a car and drives off. Bruce takes out his grapple gun and hooks onto the rear bumper of the car. Jason drives quickly, narrowly dodging cars as he turns and swerves through traffic. Bruce claims closer and closer to the car.

Finally he gets onto the top of the car. Jason tries to shake him, and when that doesn't work, Jason unhooks the convertible top. It along with Bruce go flying off. Jason escapes from Bruce easily after that, and sees an explosion in the background. He knows that Dick got out okay, he always did.

Dick and Bruce rendezvous back at the Batcave and discuss what happened. As Bruce and Dick enter, Tim runs up to them, "Bruce, Dick, you guys okay? You look like hell."

"I feel like it," Dick announces.

Barbara wheels over to him and asks, "What happened?"

"We ran into the guy that attacked Timmy. And he blew up ACE Chemicals. I had to get the people out, and well, I succeeded. Not that there was ever any doubt." Barbara snickers at his modesty. "Anyway, I got hit by some debris, plus I was running back and forth, up and down, basically all over the factory, and that tires a guy out."

"I'm just glad you made it out okay," Barbara tells him, giving him a warm embrace.

"Me too," Dick says.

Tim looks over to Bruce who hasn't said anything since he arrived. "Everything okay Bruce?" Tim asks.

Bruce snaps out of his haze and responds, "Yeah, fine. It's just that this guy knew a lot about us. He said that ACE was the site of my 'fourth biggest failure.' Probably referring to how I believe Joker was once the Red Hood, and when he fell in the chemicals, he went insane. And he also called himself Red Hood."

"And why'd he pick the number four?" Tim asks.

"The creation of the Joker. Barbara getting paralyzed. Jason being killed. And then Stephanie being killed." Bruce says sullenly looking down.

Tim feels sadness take over him at the mention of his dead girlfriend. He looks away from everyone else. As he does this, he notices Cassandra coming down the stairs. He's glad she didn't hear the mention of Stephanie, it hit her almost as hard. Stephanie had become like a sister to her.

Cassandra walks up to the rest of them. Reading their body language she can tell all of them are tense. Tim is tense because he is saddened. Barbara is embarrassed? Dick feels uncomfortable. And Bruce, Bruce feels guilty. "What's wrong?" She asks.

Everybody except Tim, who saw her coming in, looks up surprised at her presence. "Nothing, we just ran into that new guy, The Red Hood. And we think he knows a lot about us," Dick explains. "Come to think of it, he actually seemed really familiar. Something about the way he talked."

"I agree," Bruce declares, as if his opinion is the only one that matter. "I'm going to check the Batcomputer and analyze his speech patterns and voice."

"How can you analyze his voice? His helmet changed his voice." Dick asks.

"This is me, I'll figure out a way." Bruce says in the most jackassy way possible. He walks over to the computer, takes off his cowl, and plugs it into the computer. The computer begins downloading the video footage recorded.

"I'm going to go help him," Barbara announces, wheeling over to Bruce.

"Ok, I'm going to go train. Anyone wanna spar?" Dick asks in his normal upbeat fashion, trying to act like he wasn't affected by the mention of his dead brother.

"Can't, I gotta go do school work," Tim tells him.

"Sure," Cassandra answers.

Dick genuinely smiles, "Great!"

After about two hours of working on the computer trying to discover Red Hood's real voice, Barbara is on the edge of giving up. They play a part from when Bruce was on top of the car. And Barbara is about to rewind the clip. "Wait, I think I heard something. Try to lower the surrounding area." Barbara does as told, and she hears it too. She takes a sip of coffee. "Okay. It sounds like him. Try to isolate the voice."

Once again Barbara does as told and plays the clip. "Damn Bruce. Haven't lost your touch, have you?" Barbara drops her coffee. Bruce's eyes widen.


	15. Under the Red Hood Part II

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own The Under the Red Hood storyline, nor any DC Comics characters. In fact I am in no way affiliated with DC Comics.**

 **As always, I hope you guys enjoy. Reviews are much appreciated. Now ladies and gentlemen prepare for Part II of Under The Red Hood**

Once again Barbara does as told and plays the clip. "Damn Bruce. Haven't lost your touch, have you?" Barbara drops her coffee. Bruce's eyes widen. After they hear him say that, they hear a whisper.

"Barbara…" Bruce begins.

"I heard it. I'm on it." Barbara clicks away at the keyboard.

"So, you found my message. Good for you Bruce. You probably had Barbara do most of the work though. Yeah, I know about all of you. I could list everyone off if I really wanted. But the truth is, this isn't about them. It's about you and me. I bet you still haven't figured out who I am. Doesn't surprise me. But don't worry, you'll find out soon enough. Meet me at Bob's Bar tomorrow at eight, alone, and I'll tell you some things." The message says.

"I'm going," Bruce declares.

"Going where?" Dick says entering the room.

"To go pick up food," Bruce lies.

"Cool where are we going?" Dick asks, sounding like a little kid told he's going to Disney World.

"No we, I'm going alone." Bruce states.

"Wow, who pissed you off?" Dick's asks.

Cassandra walks over to all the commotion. "No one, I just want to pick up food in peace," Bruce states. Bruce is good at lying, but he can't beat a human lie detector.

"No." Cassandra states simply.

"What?" Bruce asks.

"Why lying?" Cassandra asks.

"I'm not lying," Bruce says. Cassandra looks long and hard at him. She notices him tensing as he says it. She looks over at Barbara. Barbara becomes extremely tense, not doing a good job of hiding it. Dick follows her gaze and notices Barbara tensing too.

"Babs?" He asks.

"What?" She asks innocently.

"What do you know?" He asks.

"Nothing," she replies, just a little too quickly.

While this whole debacle is going on, Bruce quietly sneaks away. Dick turns around. "Wait? Where the hell is Bruce? And where is Cass?"

Bruce drives off in the Batmobile not even noticing the stowaway he acquired. He gets to the bar at 7:30, giving him to time to surveill the whole area. He checks twice making sure there are no bombs or hidden devices anywhere.

Cassandra sneaks out of the Batmobile after Bruce is gone for a little over a minute. She goes to a neighboring building and pulls out binoculars watching Bruce. "What he doing?" She asks herself.

Bruce waits on the rooftop for the host to arrive, and he doesn't have to wait long before he sees trouble. A man gets dragged out of the bar by a group of assassins. The man is larger, African American, short, dark curly hair, short beard. He starts shouting, "Don't you know who I am? Who I work for? I work for the Red Hood!"

"Yeah and we are sending a message to your boss, courtesy of Black Mask." The assassin raises a sword and goes to stab the man. Before Bruce can react and try to stop the assassin, he hears a shot ring out. The assassin's sword flies out of his hand.

"You wanted me," Jason begins revealing himself from the shadow, "well here I am. Now the question is, do you have the balls to actually face me?" The assassins rush over. Jason defends himself, not even attempting to attack.

"Is Black Mask serious, this is the guy he wants us to take out?" One of the five assassins asks.

"It's easy because I'm just stalling." Jason announces.

"Stalling? For what?" One of the assassins asks swiping at Jason with their sword.

"Him," Jason says as Bruce glides in, kicking one of the assassins in the face. "Nice of you to show up."

"Shut the hell up and fight!" Bruce yells back. One of the assassins with a sword attacks Jason. Jason swiftly dodges the attack and takes the sword. He turns the sword on its master, stabbing the assassin in the gut.

Bruce fights an assassin with a laser helmet. He shoots it at Bruce. Bruce swiftly dodges the blast and throws batarangs at him. The assassin shoots the batarangs with his lasers, but doesn't look at Bruce in that time. Using the advantage, Bruce runs over punching the assassin in the gut. Then the face. Then delivers a knee to the face, knocking the thug out.

Cassandra sees the fight break out, and instinctively goes over to help. There are two men and a woman left. The woman comes up behind Jason with a sword, ready to kill him. Cassandra attacks the woman from behind, kicking her in the back of the knee. She then proceeds to flip over the assassin and kicks her in the face. The assassin looks at her groggily, before Cassandra delivers a knockout blow.

While Cassandra faces her, Jason takes on an assassin with a knife and Bruce takes on an assassin with no weapon at all. Jason's assassin swipes at him barely cutting his arm. However, Jason is still a better fighter, the assassin just got a lucky swipe. Jason disarms the assassin, takes the assassin's knife and slits his throat.

Bruce fights the assassin showing he is a far superior hand to hand combatant, when out of the corner of his eye, he sees Red Hood slit an assassin's throat. He gets annoyed by the murder of the assassin and ends his battle even quicker than he thought he would, by using pure rage.

Bruce walks over to Jason and gets in his face. "Why the hell did you DO THAT?!"

"Same old Bruce, still defending criminals. I mean he's a hired assassin! It's not like he deserved to live!" Jason shouts back.

"And what are you?" Bruce asks.

"Fair question. I'll get back to you on that," Jason says beginning to walk away.

"You song just get to walk away after killing a man." Bruce growls.

"You know, you try and rule them by fear. But what you don't understand, is that some aren't afraid. What do you do with them? I'm doing what you won't do, I'm taking them out!" Jason yells, getting right back up in Bruce's face. Bruce notices that Jason's arm is bleeding. He grabs his arm, getting some of his blood on his fingers. Jason shakes him off, and drops a smoke bomb, disappearing.

Bruce examines the blood on his hand. He takes out a vial, and lets Jason's blood drip into it. When he's done, he turns to Cassandra. "What are you doing here?"

"I already had... father… who lie. I won't have second." Cassandra tells him. Then she smiles, "Besides... you needed help."

Bruce's scowl turns into a smile, he couldn't stay mad at any of his children. "Thank you." She nods.

They get in the Batmobile and drive back to the Batcave to test the blood sample. When they get in Dick runs over to them, "Thank god, I'm starving!" He pauses, "Where's the food?"

"You honestly thought I was getting food?" Bruce asks.

Dick looking slightly sad answers, "Well I knew you were lying if that's what you mean. But I thought you would at least pick up something on the way back."

"Dick, it's nine o'clock at night," Bruce responds.

"So?"

Bruce sighs and walks past Dick to the Batcomputer. "Master Bruce," Alfred says, "I have some soup ready upstairs for you."

Bruce puts the vial into the computer and has it start examining the blood. "Thank you, but I'm not hungry right now Alfred. Give it to Dick, since he's apparently still hungry."

"Very well sir," Alfred replies walking back towards the kitchen with Dick following not far behind.

Bruce stares at the computer screen waiting for the results for the blood to finish. He waits until the computer pings, telling him that they have come back. He opens it and hears a tray fall behind him. He would look, but he's too shocked by results. The picture on the screen shows Jason Todd.

His heart is beating irregularly, he think he may have a heart attack. A tear threatens to slip from his eye. He looks behind him to see a stunned Alfred with a dropped tray of coffee. "Master… Jason," Alfred mutters out. His voice sounding as if he might break down at any given movement.

They stay like that for a little while. Then Dick and Barbara enter the room. They stare at the screen, dumbfounded. Dick clutches onto Barbara's wheelchair for support, as if his legs may give out. "Jaybird?" He asks, a stray tear falling down his cheek.

Jason is running along a rooftop listening in on Black Mask's conversation. "What the HELL IS HAPPENING?! I told you to take care of this problem over a week ago!" Black Mask shouts. Jason smiles to himself. "He killed my FUCKING ASSASSINS! HE'S FUCKING UNPREDICTABLE! One day he's robbing a bank that has my money in it, the next he's killing my men. If we want to take him out, we have to fight unpredictable with unpredictable, call my guys at Arkham." Jason smiles knowing his plan has worked.

Black Mask gets up and takes the phone from his assistant, "Yes. Tell the clown to be ready. He's going to be taking a vacation." Black Mask and his men exit the room and gets in the elevator. He exits the building and gets in his car with his heavily armed men.

They arrive at Arkham and get to the Joker's cell with no resistance, thanks to the favor that one of the guards owed him. They bring Joker to a secure location. Joker sits down staring at Black Mask and his men. He coughs, "A glass of water," he chokes out. Black Mask snaps his fingers and Joker is given one.

Joker takes a sip and smashes the glass against the table. Taking the sharp glass he slits one of the men's throat. Then takes his gun and shoots the rest, leaving only Black Mask and his assistant alive. He begins laughing. "I'm going to need a new suit. And some men. Not these men though, they're kinda dead! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Joker stands on top of a truck with a lighter in his hand. Inside the truck lies Black Mask, his assistant, and other thugs covered in gasoline. "JOKER," Gordon says through the bullhorn, "LET THEM GO FREE!"

Joker looks in Gordon's direction and laughs, "HAHAHAHA! Why would I?" Joker drops the lit lighter and runs. He knows since there are people on fire the police's first has to put them out.

When he turns the corner he realizes his plan has worked. He sees the man in the red helmet standing there. Joker smiles, "So you're the…" Jason punches him before he says anything else, knocking out The Joker.

Joker wakes up bound to a chair. He looks up to see Jason standing there with a crowbar in his hand. "Soooooooooo, you're Red Hood? I'm flattered you took my name!"

Jason takes the crowbar and smacks Joker across the face with it, "SHUT UP!" Joker along with the chair fall to the ground. "That looks like it hurt," Jason replies sarcastically. He hits him again with the crowbar, "You know, that looks like it hurt more. So let's clear it up. Which hurts more? A," he hits him with the crowbar, "or B?" He hits him again.

The wooden chair breaks at the abuse, but Joker is too injured to stand up. Instead he just lies on the cold, hard, cement floor. His entire body bleeds without signs of slowing. He can only feel pain throughout his entire body. "You know what? You seem familiar," Joker spits out, along with some blood.

Jason presses a button unhooking his helmet, and removes the mask. Joker's eyes widen. "Hahahaha…" Jason hits him again with the crowbar. He hits him again in the chest, even hearing a few ribs snap as he does so. He hits him in the knee, shattering the bone.

"Who's the bitch now?" Jason asks with a smirk of satisfaction.

They all stare at the computer still, when an alert comes on the screen. 'Joker is holding Roman Sionis and others hostage' it reads. Bruce snapping out of his daze turns on the news. He sees Joker standing over a truck threatening to light everyone on fire if any police come with 500 feet of him. He has the lighter lit so that if he is shot he will still light them on fire.

Without even thinking Bruce gets up from the computer and rushes to the Batplane. He gets in and Dick follows hopping into the copilot seat. The hatch closes and the Bruce starts the plane. The plane exit opens and Bruce flies out the whole in the side of the cave.

Bruce flies quickly and efficiently. Joker has himself in between tight buildings with only one way to him. Joker being as unpredictable as ever drops the lit lighter into the gasoline covered Black Mask. Bruce sees this and flies as low as possible to the fire and deploys fire foam to put out the fire, covering Black Mask and his men, as well as a large portion of the street. However he loses visual on Joker in the process.

"Take over the plane and land it, I'm going to go look for Joker," Bruce orders Dick. Dick nods and takes over main controls as Bruce ejects. Bruce lands on the ground and begins looking for Joker. He goes into an alley near where the Joker was holding Black Mask.

He looks on the ground and sees tire marks. He also sees blood on the ground. Then he remembers the identity of Red Hood and he knows that this isn't good. "Dick, I believe Jason has Joker," Bruce says, so fearful he forgets to use code names.

Dick stays silent on the other side for a minute then answers, "We have to find him."

"Agreed," Bruce says, "I will not let another person die tonight. Not even Joker." Bruce begins scanning the scene for clues and finds a footprint. He examines the footprint and sees asbestos. He remembers a memory of old and announces, "I know where they are."

"Great, where?" Dick asks.

"I'm sorry, I want to tell you, but I know I have to go alone." Bruce tells Dick.

"No you don't. Jason isn't just your son, he's my brother. HE'S MY FAMILY TOO!" Bruce takes the earpieces out of the mask and crushes it. He then takes the tracking devices on his belt, for emergencies, and crushes it in his bare hands.

He knows it isn't far from here so he begins running and grappling. He arrives at the old broken down home that nobody has even thought of repairing. The mailbox still reads Todd in rusty letters. He opens the door just like he did so many years ago. He hears a faint laughing in a distant room. He goes to open the door, but before he can, he is tackled through the wall by Jason.

They crash through a weak wall and into the bathroom. Jason takes Bruce and throws him into the mirror. The mirror shatters and Bruce stumbles back. Jason goes for another hit, but Bruce dodges, causing Jason to punch the now very fragile toilet, shattering it.

Bruce grabs a hold of Jason and tries to stop him from fighting, but Jason takes him and throws him through another wall. Bruce and Jason land on the ground, Bruce bloodied. Bruce and Jason both get up, neither going to approach the other. They just stare at each other. For the first time in two and half years, Bruce looks in Jason's eyes, of the son who he thought to be dead.

Bruce breaks the silence, "Jason, I'm sorry I didn't save you."

"You think I'm mad at you? I forgive you for not saving me, I'm not mad at you Bruce. Not anymore. I just… I don't understand. I don't understand why," Jason says opening the closet and pulling a bloody, bruised and broken Joker out, "why the HELL IS HE STILL ALIVE?"

Joker smiles at the attention, "The kid's got a point. He came all the way back from the dead just to make the reunion happen! Now let's take some pictures! Who has a camera? How about one with me and the kid. Then one with me and Bats! And then one with all three of us! And then I want with the crowbar!" Joker shouts excitement evident in his voice.

Jason puts a gun to Joker's head, "I'd be as silent as possible, unless you want a bullet to the balls first."

Joker's smile fades to a frown, "Party pooper, no cake for you."

"Ignoring all that he's done in the past! All the graveyards he's filled! And for what your damn morals?! If he had beaten you, I would've searched the whole damn earth, and sent him to hell!" Jason shouts angrily throwing Joker to the ground and pointing the gun at Bruce instead.

"You don't understand. I don't think you ever have…" Bruce begins.

"What that it breaks your moral code? That it's too hard to cross the line," Jason mocks.

"NO!" Bruce shouts making Jason silent. "It'd be too damn easy. All I've ever wanted to do is kill him. To subject him to all the torture he's forced others to go to, and then when he's broken, to finally end him."

Joker's smile becomes reinvigorated, "Ahhhh. So you do think about me."

"But if allow myself to cross that line. To go to that place. There's no way that I'm gonna be able to come back." Bruce explains.

"Why though? I'm not talking about killing Dent or Cobblepot, I'm talking about him. And doing it because… he took me from this earth." Jason says emotionally.

"I'm sorry. But I can't." Bruce declares.

"Well you won't have a choice," Jason announces tossing Bruce his spare gun. Bruce catches it with ease and looks at it. Jason picks up Joker, "if you won't kill this piece of worthless shit, then I will. And the only way to stop me," Jason says picking Joker up, "is to shoot me in the head!"

"This is turning out better than I hoped!" Joker says excitedly.

"Jason," Bruce says pleadingly.

"I'll do it! I'll blow his FREAKING BRAINS OUT!" Jason shouts sounding insane. "IT'S HIM OR ME! DECIDE!" Bruce drops the gun and begins turning away. Jason enraged, aims the gun at Bruce now. He begins pulling the trigger.

The bullet flies through the air and Bruce narrowly dodges it, and in the process throws a batarang at Jason's gun, getting it stuck in the barrel. Jason pulls the trigger again and the gun explodes. Bloodying Jason's hand. The Joker begins laughing, "HAHAHAHA! I can't believe you did it! You found a way to win. And you still lose!"

Jason pulls a trigger out of his belt and pushes the button. A bomb begins beeping. Bruce sees a bomb light up with a countdown. He rushes over towards it, but before he can examine it Joker tackles him. "NO DON'T RUIN IT! I'M GONNA BE THE ONLY ONE WHO GETS WHAT HE WANTS TONIGHT!" Joker hold down Bruce strangling him. Bruce punches Joker in the face and gets up, looking at the timer. Twenty seconds.

He runs over to Jason who holds his hand in pain and grabs him. Then he grabs Joker and begins running diving out the window. The bomb explodes, but his cape protects him, Joker and Jason from the blast. However, when the blast still manages to knock him out.

When he wakes up the police is there. They have Joker in cuffs. Dick and Cassandra stand with the medics who examine Bruce. "Ja…" Bruce starts.

"He escaped," Dick informs him. Bruce nods. "Yeah, I'm guessing this isn't the last we see of him."

 **A/N: Hope everyone enjoyed. Comments/reviews are appreciated. And let me know what you want to see next.**


	16. Big Secrets and Big Belly Burger

**Author's Note: Thank you guys for all the support. I didn't expect to get even close to 1,000 hits. I also didn't expect to get such positive feedback on my first work. I originally didn't think I would come even close to sixteen chapters, actually I didn't even think I would do ten. However, the feedback encourages me to continue doing more. Anyways, as always, hope you enjoy the chapter.**

Tim and Dick prepare to depart the Batcave to go on patrol together. Ever since Jason showed up Bruce doesn't allow anyone to go out by themselves.

Tim puts on his last piece of equipment and goes to leave, but stops at the memorials. He stands in front of two Robin costumes. One of the homicidal maniac who tried to kill him;

After what transpired with Jason, Alfred had asked Bruce, "After what happened, would, would you like me to take the suit down sir?"

And Bruce just looked at the case and said, "No. It doesn't change anything."

And the other being a monument to his girlfriend. "C'mon," Dick shouts from the opposite end of the cave. Tim snaps out of his daze and runs toward Dick. They get in their bikes and ride off into the city.

Tim swings through the sky, patrolling the city with Dick. As they grapple through the air, Dick gets a call from Barbara, "What's up Babs?"

"There appears to be a hostage situation at the Big Belly Burger in Upper West Hill."

"Who the hell holds up a Big Belly Burger?" Dick asks confused, landing on a building.

"You act like you haven't seen weirder," Tim comments, running alongside his older brother. Dick shrugs with a smile and continues running to the location.

When they are across the street, Tim catches a flowing purple cape out of the corner of his eye, "Oracle you send this assignment to one of your friends from the Birds of Prey?"

"No, why?" Barbara asks.

"No reason," Tim says rubbing his eyes, "Just thought I saw something."

Tim takes out his binoculars and scopes the scene. "Okay, I see two guys. Both armed with semi-auto weapons. I say we cut the power and surprise them."

Dick puts his hand to his chin in deep thought. "How many hostages?"

Tim looks through his binoculars and begins looking, "A man under a table. One. A woman clutching her child. Two and Three. Two cashiers standing with their hands up. Four and Five. A man trying to sneak up on the armed guys. Wait..." Tim's eyes widen, "We have to go NOW!"

Dick midst in agreement and they crash into the window throwing smoke bombs. They turn on the thermal mode on their masks and tackle standing hostages to the ground, protecting them from the random shots being fired by the robbers.

Tim looks back to the robbers to see that someone just tackled them to the ground. The person now kicks one in the face and punches the other. Both seem to be knocked out.

As the smoke clears Tim's heart rate rises. In rage he tackles the person who took down the robbers. He slams her body into the ground and begins screaming at her, "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO WEAR THIS COSTUME!" His vision blurs with tears, as he stares at the purple costume, almost identical, to the one his girlfriend had once worn. He rips off the mask and his heart almost stops when he sees the mess of blonde hair covering her face. She wipes the hair from her face and he sees the bright blue eyes.

Impulse takes over and he kisses the girl he loved, the girl he thought to be dead. She is surprised by the sudden switch of emotions, but gives in rather quickly.

All of this happens in under a minute and Dick stares confused as to what is happening. From where he and everyone else stands, they saw Tim tackle the person in the costume, shout at them, then he went silent. "Robin what is going on?" Dick asks not prepared for what he is about to see. On the ground lay Tim and Stephanie Brown, who everyone thought dead, kissing. Dick clears his throat and Tim and Stephanie separate. "Crime scene," Dick reminds them.

Tim and Stephanie snap out of it. Tim hands her her mask, which she almost immediately puts on. Tim then seems to switch emotions, "I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!"

Stephanie is about to explain when Dick cuts in, "Once again, we are AT A CRIME SCENE! Have this conversation when we leave!" They look at him and walk out of the burger joint.

They grapple to the nearest rooftop. "I thought you were dead," Tim says in a different tone than previously. This one being a grateful but saddened at the same time, while the last time he was shouting in angry passion.

"Leslie helped me fake my death. After the torture, I just needed time away from it all," she explains, "I knew that if I had to say goodbye that I wouldn't be able to."

"I grieved. I thought that everyone in my life was dying. First you. Then my dad," Tim says looking away.

"I'm so sorry." She tells him.

He smiles, "I'm just glad you're back in my life." He pulls off her mask and kisses her.

Dick watches at the young pair walk away and grapple onto the building. As soon as the police see this happen they figure the scene is safe, so they rush in. Bullock leads the group and walks over to Dick. "So what happened?"

"Someone," Dick says looking at one of the hostages, "was trying to be a hero. Luckily we got in before the thugs realized it." Bullock nods and Dick sneaks away.

Dick goes to find Tim and Stephanie but doesn't have to look very far. Just as he had found them before, he finds them again, in the middle of kissing. He once again has to clear his throat. They break apart again, both blushing. Dick looks as if he's about to speak, but when he doesn't Tim decides to, "So Steph, you wanna come back to the manor? I'm sure everyone would be happy to see you."

"I'd love to," she replies. They jump off the building leaving Dick behind, and get on Tim's motorcycle. They ride off toward the Batcave leaving Dick still standing on the building.

When Tim arrives, everyone is in the Cave. Cassandra is training, Bruce and Barbara are at the computer, and Alfred is dusting. Barbara hears the motorcycle come in and looks to Tim. She sees someone holding onto him and comments, "What did your motorcycle break down, Dick?"

Stephanie takes off the helmet revealing her blonde hair and Barbara gasps. Alfred turns to look at what she is looking at, and drops his dustpan. Bruce stands there unsure of what to do. Cassandra comes out of the training area to see what all the ruckus is about. Seeing Stephanie standing there, she rushes over to see her best friend.

Stephanie and Cassandra stare at each other for a moment, and then Cassandra wraps her arms around Stephanie. "Missed you," Cassandra says.

"I missed you to Cass," Stephanie's responds.

Everybody still stands frozen. The first person to actually move is Alfred he walks over to Stephanie and smiles. Barbara still unsure of what is happening asks, "How are you alive?"

"Leslie helped fake my death. I needed a break after what Black Mask did to me. After that I stayed in Brazil with Leslie, while she helped people. I realized that my calling has helping people, so I had to come back. Plus I missed all of you," she explains.

"I'm glad you're back," Bruce says breaking the silence. He then goes back to his work. Everyone looks at him, then go over to formally welcome Stephanie back.

There is a giant hug going on when Dick comes back into the cave. As he gets off his bike he shouts, "AHHHHH! I missed the group hug?!" Everyone chuckles, minus Bruce who is no longer paying any attention to them.

Everyone decides that it would be nicer to sit and talk up stairs, so they begin heading up. The last one up is Dick, who was trying to convince Bruce to come. However, he declines, as he feels he is close to locating Jason. So Dick heads up and sits down on the couch next to Tim.

Alfred decides to go to the kitchen to make some of his famous cookies. The rest of them just sit there. Not talking, just enjoying each other's company. Tim sits between Stephanie and Dick, and he feels at home next to his brother and the woman he loves. Next to Stephanie on the other side is Cassandra, enjoying being with her best friend. Next to Dick is Barbara. He has his arm wrapped around her, pulling her close.

They decide to start filling Stephanie in on what's been happening in their lives. Tim begins by telling her, "So, the second Robin was actually raised from the dead." She looks at him unbelievingly, but lets him continue. "Yeah, now he goes by Red Hood. He's kinda psycho, but he didn't kill me when we fought so that was nice. He's pissed though since Bruce didn't kill Joker." She nods.

The next story comes from Dick. And being Dick, he has to tell it in the most dramatic way possible. "So me and the Titans were stranded in the middle of a jungle."

She interrupts him, "Doesn't Tim lead the Titans?"

"No he leads the TEEN TITANS, I lead the TITANS. And way back to my story. We are stranded in the middle of a jungle. None of us sure how we got there. All we know is that we have to get out. Donna decides she is going to try to fly out of the area. Except, there's a force field! So, Roy, Garth, Wally, Donna, and I have no idea what to do. When out of nowhere, Abra Kadabra tries to attack us! So we fight, we knock him out and find a button on his glove. He press it and the force field goes down. The end!" Dick finishes sounding more excited then when he started.

Somewhere during their stories, Alfred comes in and brings a gigantic tray of cookies. He places them down and leaves to go to sleep.

Bruce comes up stairs around five in the morning, two hours after the others came up. He looks into the family room to see that all of them have fallen asleep on each other. He sees a variety of blankets latex over them, figuring it to be the work of Alfred. He smiles at his family. Although he doesn't show it, he is happy to have Stephanie back.


	17. Questions

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry about taking so long to update. Just to let everyone know, the original chapter 17 is no longer canonical in this story. I realized with the help of a reviewer that it was a rushed story. So now instead this is the new chapter. As always I hope you enjoy.**

Tim and Dick are patrolling together again. They usually do. Bruce doesn't usually allow younger members to go out without an older and more experienced person.

However, that rule doesn't seem to apply too much towards Cassandra. It's not that Bruce doesn't think Tim and Stephanie aren't capable fighters. In fact, Tim has excelled as of late in hand to hand fighting techniques. With Cassandra it's different though. Cassandra was born and bred to be a fighter. Trained since birth to be an assassin. Even deprived of learning the English language, well any language. Instead she had to learn to read body language.

She didn't learn learn proper English until she was taken in by Bruce. Ever since she assisted in saving the Commissioner's life, Bruce has trusted her with his. She proved that she wasn't her father, nor her mother when she put herself in harm's way to protect others. And she's done it time and time again, only further cementing her place in the 'Batfamily', as Dick so fondly refers to it.

As Tim swings from one roof to another by way of grappling hook he sees thugs on ground level trying to mug a woman. He motions to Dick, and springs into action. He glides in kicking the thug. The thug falls to the ground and the woman runs in terror from the alley. The second thug pulls for a gun. Without even looking Tim throws a birdarang landing in the barrel of the gun, jamming it. The third tries to attack Tim with a knife. He easily parries the attack, and counters, swinging his bo staff at the thug's legs knocking him over, then hitting him across the face.

As this is going on, Dick watches from a vantage point with amusement as Tim swiftly takes out the thug. Tim finishes tying the thugs up, and leaves them hanging upside down from a fire escape, waiting for the police. He grapples up to Dick, who is smiling at him.

"What you smirking about?" Tim asks curiously.

"Nothing, it's just… you've improved so much in the past few months. You took down the thugs with such ease. I'm just… proud." Dick responds with a warm smile towards his little brother.

Tim sighs and glances away, "Yeah, well after getting beaten so easily by Jason, I thought I might as well attempt to strengthen my close range combat skills. Using weapons at close range and hand to hand combat."

"Well you're obviously doing much better," Dick says putting his hand on Tim's shoulder. As they share a brotherly moment, wailing sirens begin flashing red and blue. "We should probably go check that out." Tim nods his head in agreement, and they both pull out their grapples and grapple away.

Their search leads them to an old rundown home. The cops are inside investigating. As Dick checks out the scene, he realizes that there aren't any cops that he recognizes, since it's County not City cops. However, after looking over the scene for under a minute, Tim recognizes an old acquaintance.

"Follow my lead," Tim tells Dick, "I know someone here who should help us." They swing over to the second story window and see a man with a bulky frame and blonde hair. He wears a brown trench coat and hat. The man sees Tim and sighs. "Shotgun," Tim acknowledges.

"Robin," Shotgun Smith responds. He exhales deeply. "Five minutes," he tells Tim. "Everyone out!" He orders toward his men.

"Thanks" Tim answers. He nods in response.

"How'd you meet him?" Dick asks.

"After Bane broke B's back and Azrael was Batman. I did a little solo work, operated in County more than city, just trying to stay away from Azrael. It was back when," Tim looks away briefly, "My father had just overcame his paralysis." Dick nods in remembrance.

Tim examines the bloody scene trying to figure out what happened. Luckily there are no corpses. However there are two extremely injured men enroute to the hospital. Tim looks at the wall and sees the imprint of what beamed the thug. "Whatcha thinking?" Dick asks.

Tim gets closer examining the bloody hole in the wall. "Not a bullet hole, it's too wide. My money is on a crossbow bolt, however if Sportsmaster is in town it could be from a javelin. Though I doubt he would leave the thug's alive, so crossbow is number one suspect. I say we go talk to Huntress." Dick smiles at how quickly Tim was able to deduce a possible identity for the assailant.

"I know exactly where we should go. Or more specifically, _who_ we should go to." Dick tells Tim grinning. They walk towards the window in which they enter, and exit as Shotgun Smith enters the room.

"So we gonna tell Barbara that we're swinging by or…" Tim begins asking.

"Nah, she likes it when I surprise her." Dick says with a smirk, as he shoots off another line. He flies through the air gracefully, doing flips as he freefalls. Having been taught to perform 'without the safety of a net', he's never really had any fear of falling.

He's has always seen the net as a restricting force. Yeah it catches you if you fall, but if you use a net, you rely on it to save you. He believes that without the net, you learn to rely on your abilities, and to trust the person that grabs you when you let go. You can't trust life to be nice and provide a net. You can only trust yourself and your family and friends to catch you, if you begin to fall.

As they come upon the Clocktower, Dick and Tim swing onto the roof to the 'hero' entrance. Also known as the hatch on the roof. Tim opens the hatch and Dick jumps in, with Tim right behind him.

Barbara hears them enter, and not expecting anyone throws a batarang at them. Dick catches the projectile mere inches away from his face. "Damn Babs. You're accuracy is still impeccable."

She turns to face them and rolls her eyes at Dick's remark. "What are you doing here Richard?" She asks fully enunciating his name.

"Babs I am hurt," he says mockingly putting his hand to his chest, "do you think I only come here when I need something?"

"Pretty much," she says turning back to what she was working on.

"C'mon," he says walking towards her, "you know that's not true." He leans in close and whispers in her ear smirking, "Sometimes I come over late at night when you need something. Dick… Grayson of course."

She once again rolls her eyes at his immature behavior. "Just tell me what you want."

"Fine. Straight to business. No beating round the bush." She stares at him waiting for him to get to the point, "Right, so Tim and I were at a crime scene earlier today. Someone was severely wounded and is now in the hospital clinging to life support. The assailant used a crossbow. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?" She looks Dick straight in the eyes, glaring.

"If you are accusing Helena of attacking that man, then you are mistaken," she tells him.

Dick looks at her hard, "Do you have any proof?"

She rolls her eyes. "Of course I have proof. Helena isn't even in Gotham right now. She and The Question are currently across the country in Star City," she tells him. She turns toward her computer and begins typing. She pulls up Helena's credit card receipts. "See," she says pointing to a receipt for a plane ticket to Star City.

"She paid for another ticket yesterday," Dick points out. Barbara stares wide eyed at the purchase.

"No... she would have told me," Barbara mutters unbelieving. Barbara types something and a chat comes up. There are two pictures show up, each representing a person. There sits a picture of a Canary and a purple H. Barbara begins typing a message, 'H where the hell are you?"

Three dots show up on the screen, telling that Helena is responding. 'In Star City,' the response reads.

'Then how come you bought a ticket to Gotham yesterday?' Barbara types back. Barbara waits for a response, but she doesn't get one. She begins typing a command into a computer and slams her hand against the keyboard when she sees the response. "She deactivated the communicator, I can't track her…"

Barbara looks worried about her friend. As if on cue, Dick puts his hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry Babs, we'll stop her before she does anything she regrets." She smiles in response, putting her hand on his. Dick removes his hand and begins to leave, Tim follows.

"How are we going to find her?" Tim asks.

Dick smiles. "We find Question."

"How?" Tim asks. "Just because Helena came back doesn't mean he did."

"That's true, but if he did I know where he'll be," Dick tells Tim. "He has a hideout on the outskirts of Gotham." Dick begins running towards the address and Tim follows. Dick does a flip off of a building, landing on another.

They arrive on the rundown building, entering through the stairway entrance on the roof. They go down to the first floor and come to door number six. Dick knocks on the door loudly. When there is no answer, Dick kicks in the door.

A man with dark hair with no mouth nor eyes lies asleep at his desk. When the door is kicked in he jumps in surprise. He grabs a stapler and aims at the intruders. When he sees who it is he puts it down, "Ohhhhhh. Nightwing, Robin, good to see you both. Though it would be nice if you actually knocked before kicking in the door. I do like my privacy."

Dick looks at the sticky note covered walls with string connecting some together. "I did knock Q, you didn't answer. Not getting much sleep?"

"Why would you say that?" Question asks combing his hand through his hair.

"No reason. Soooo... you see Huntress lately." Dick asks, Tim standing behind him unsure of how to deal with Question.

"Helena? Haven't seen her since I last saw her." Question answers. "Though last time I did see her she seemed troubled."

"Would you know why she was troubled?" Dick asks.

"Why would I?" Question shrugs off.

"You go through people's trash. You know more about most Justice League members than their spouses do."

"I wouldn't say more than their spouses. Though I do see your point. I do have a theory on why Helena was troubled though. While going through the trash while we were in Star City I found a crumpled newspaper article," Question replies smugly.

"What was it on?" Tim asks finally speaking up.

"The man who killed her parents. He was recently released from prison. Later that day she mentioned having to go back to Gotham. I told her I would stay in Star City and investigate leads. I trailed her in one of my many aliases. I caught a flight back to Gotham and observed. Then I lost her. I have since been looking into where she disappeared to." Question answers.

Tim eyes him, "That what you're working on over there?"

Question looks down at his desk and lifts a blank piece of paper. "What this?" he asks. "No, this is some of my other theories."

"Okay," Tim says writing him off as a crazy person.

Question nods his head. "My work on Helena is all over the walls," he says pointing toward the blank post it notes.

Dick sighs. "I don't have time for this," he says beginning to walk out.

"Wait," Tim says eyes a lamp. Question follows his gaze and is satisfied. Tim closes the door and closes the blinds. He then walks over to the lamp and turns it on, revealing it to shine Ultraviolet rays. He shines the lamp at the blank post it notes, revealing notes scrawled out all over them. Tim smirks, feeling satisfied with his detective skills.

Dick smiles over towards his brother, "Good job Robin."

Walking over to the notes on the wall Dick begins reading them. 'Helena investigating parents murder.' Dick follows the red string which attaches it to another note that reads, 'Mandragora released,' he follows another string, 'Mandragora murdered after Helena returns.'

When he gets to the final note Dick realizes what Question uncovered. "You know where they are?"

"Not a hundred percent sure. I'm pretty sure that she is at the Cathedral in Old Gotham though," Question tells him. Dick and Tim open the door preparing to leave. "Wait for me!" Question shouts putting on his blue coat and straightening his tie.

Question leads them out the door and announces, "C'mon, we'll take my car." He pulls keys out of his pocket and clicks the button. The car chirps and the headlights come on, revealing a navy blue 1967 Chevy Impala. They get in the car, and Question doesn't even wait for them to close the back doors before starting to drive.

They pull up to the Cathedral and Dick, Tim, and Question disembark the car. They all walk toward the front door of the Cathedral. In opening it, they see something no one was expecting. Helena is tied down to a chair, and a man with black eyes stares at her smiling.

The black eyed man turns to the heroes. "Nightwing, Robin, and Question," he says smirking.

"Tommy Monaghan, The Hitman." Dick growls.

"I'm flattered that you know me," The Hitman tells them. "I'm just finishing the job that I was contracted to do many years ago, so don't mind me." He takes his gun and puts it to Helena's head. Before he can pull the trigger, the gun is knocked out of his hand by a batarang. "Fine, we'll do it the hard way."

The Hitman runs over to the three heroes and begins fighting. Tim takes out his bo staff and swings at the would be killer. He hits him in the gut knocking the villain over, but he quickly gets back to his feet. As he does so though, Dick jumps up kicking the assassin in the head. Dick takes out his escrima sticks and begins hitting the Hitman.

Question sees that Dick and Tim can hold their own against the assassin, so he goes over to Helena to untie her. He takes out a small pocket knife and cuts the rope. "Thanks Q," Helena tells him. He nods in response.

The Hitman lies on the ground, presumed to be defeated by the heroes. However, when Dick and Tim turn their backs, he reaches for a pistol tucked in the back of his pants. Helena sees this and reaches for her crossbow on the table next to her. She swiftly fires at The Hitman's hand, disarming him.

Dick sees this and hits the assassin across the face with an escrima stick, this time effectively knocking the villain out. He ties up the villain, then goes over to check on Helena. "You okay?" Tim asks.

"Yeah, thanks to you guys. I came back to Gotham to question Mandragora when he got out. I wanted to know who he hired to kill my parents. When I got there The Hitman was waiting with a dead Mandragora. He knocked me out and left me here. Then using my cross bow tied up any loose ends," Helena explains.

"I'm just glad you're okay." Dick tells her.

"Yeah me too," she agrees.

 **Author's Note: Hope you guys enjoyed. And letting you guys know I have a poll going on right now about which character you would like to see get a spin off. Also I now have a forum up where you guys can share ideas with me and other users, and might even get some ideas into the stories. If you are interested go to my profile page for a link.**


	18. Head of the Demon

**Author's Note: Sorry this took a little while to update, this is the first part of a two parter. Originally it was just going to be one chapter but I thought what the hell, might as well give it to them as two. As always, hope you guys enjoy the chapter, and please review.**

To say that Bruce wasn't in the mood was an understatement. He was in the middle of tracking down Jason, with the help of Dick, when they were attacked by ninjas.

At first they were fine. Bruce and Dick are more than qualified enough to handle ten ninjas. But then there were twenty. Then twentyfive. And before they knew it, there were fifty very pissed off ninjas attacking them.

Dick and Bruce stand back to back, so that they can't be attacked from behind. Dick pulls his escrima sticks from his back compartment, and Bruce pulls out two abnormally long, sharp batarangs. They were so sharp and long that the batarangs were basically duel bladed daggers.

Ninjas rush forward from both sides. Dick swings at one with his escrima stick, and flips another over him. Bruce grabs the flipped ninja and throws him at some of the others. Ninjas with swords begin attacking, and Bruce fights them off with his special batarangs.

One swings the blade, and Bruce flawlessly parries the attack. Another swings, Bruce blocks the attack, and kicks the attacker in the gut, making him double over in pain. Another goes to stab Bruce, but he catches the blade, mere inches away from his body. He throws the would be assassin back into the group, but more continue advancing.

Dick presses a button on the escrima sticks, and an electric current starts surging through it. He throws the weapon at an enemy. It bounces off the enemy, electrocuting the ninja, then bounces off the ground and into Dick's hand.

An assassin charges with a sword at Dick. Touching the escrima stick to the sword, the ninja flies back as 10 milliamps of electricity surges through his body. Two more ninjas throw punches at Dick. Dick blocks using his escrima sticks, and lightly taps the two of them with the weapon, knocking them out.

Bruce simultaneously, deals with four of the ninjas. From all of his encounters with them he knows that they are League of Assassins members. What he doesn't know however, is why Ra's is attacking. Why now?

He is brought out of his thoughts by a sword that comes dangerously close to his face. He blocks the next swing with his armored gauntlet, and parries the attack. Bruce backs up even more until he is standing back to back with Dick, no space inbetween them.

"So, nice weather we're having isn't it?" Dick asks jokingly. Bruce grumbles something which Dick pretends to not hear. "So what do you think we should? We can't hold them off forever," Dick asks.

"We should stop fighting," Bruce tells him.

Dick's eyes widen. "We should do WHAT?" He screams at his former mentor. "Have you completely lost it?" Dick asks fighting off another two assassins.

"Ra's is trying to get our attention, not kill us. I say we see what he wants," Bruce suggests.

"He hasn't tried to kill us YET. Besides what usually happens when we let down our guards?" Dick questions.

"I'm not saying we let down our guard. I'm saying we cautiously go and see Ra's. First sign of trouble we get out." Then Bruce's voice becomes, hopeful? "Maybe he knows something about Jason, and that's why he's trying to contact us."

Dick sighs. "Fine. I'll come with. But first sign of trouble, and we are getting the hell out of there. Both of us." Bruce nods in agreement.

Simultaneously, both men raise their hands in surrender. "We surrender, now take us to Ra's," Bruce commands.

"Who said it was my father that was trying to contact you, beloved?" A female voice calls out. Bruce looks toward the swarm of ninjas, and the path they start to clear for the woman.

"Talia," Bruce greets.

"Beloved," she returns with a smile. She walks up to Bruce and kisses him. She pulls away and begins walking, "Follow me."

Bruce does as instructed, as does Dick, albeit a little more cautiously than Bruce. She leads them to a small jet, positioned on a rooftop. With a click of a button on her wrist, the jet's hangar opens, and Talia, Bruce, and Dick board.

The ride to the League's hideout takes a little over an hour, and is mostly silent, except for some of Dick's outbursts along the way.

When they finally arrive, the first thing Dick does is tap his ear. "Oracle?"

"DICK!" She shouts sounding relieved. "Where the hell are you?"

"Meeting with Ra's Al Ghul, cause for some reason Bruce thought that was a good idea." Dick sees Bruce and Talia enter the temple-like structure, "I gotta go Babs, but I'll let you know when we are leaving and if we experience any trouble. Nightwing out."

Dick jogs to catch up with Bruce and Talia. They walk through the large temple, until they reach a large plain room with a large circular table in the middle. Dick walks over to the table and takes a seat, placing his feet up on the wood.

"Get your feet off of the table. It is one of a kind. King Arthur himself sat right there," the man with middle eastern features, says motioning towards a seat.

Dick gets his feet off of the table, but continues sitting. "Ra's," Bruce greets, scowl ever present on his scruffy face.

Ra's Al Ghul smiles at the man clad in black before him. "Detective."

"Drop the act, why did you want to see me?"

"You hacked into my computer systems, I would like to know why."

"I am looking for my son."

Ra's expression changes with the mentioning of a word. "How did you know?"

"I had my suspicions, though I believe it was fairly obvious. Is he here?"

"Indeed he is, Detective. I will send someone to fetch him," Ra's declares. He walks out into the hall and talks to someone, however what he says is unknown to Bruce and Dick. He walks back into the room and states, "He will join us momentarily, would you like any beverages? I am sure the trip has left you parched."

"No need Ra's," Dick cuts in, "we don't intend on staying long."

"Very well." There is a knock on the door, and Ra's walks over to let the person in. Dick stands from his seat in anticipation of seeing his brother again.

The door opens and a boy no older than ten walks in. Blue eyes and black hair. "Who is he?" Bruce asks, "Where is my son?"

Ra's looks confused. "He is here. This is him."

Dick's eyes widen in realization, "Holy shit," he mutters.

"Where is Jason?" Bruce asks.

"I know nothing of his location," Ra's assures. "Detective, I thought you said you came for your son?"

"I did. I came for Jason Todd."

"He is not your son. He is not of your blood. I am. I am your rightful heir," the boy says. Bruce stares down at the child, unbelieving.

"Do you know not of your real son? Of Damian?" Ra's asks.

"My son?" Bruce asks, losing his calm facade.

"How you earned the title of Detective from Grandfather is beyond me, you are as bright as a monkey."

"Obviously you haven't met Detective Chimp. Both called Detective, and he is literally a monkey," Dick comments.

"I'll leave you to talk, I will be back shortly," Ra's tells them, though noone hears him over Dick's and Damian's arguing.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Damian asks insulted. "I am the son of Batman, grandson of Ra's Al Ghul, speak down to me again and I will cut off your tongue!"

As Dick listens to Damian, he realizes something else. "Oh my god. Damian are you the son of Talia?"

"Aren't you intelligent?" Damian mocks. Dick glares at the younger boy.

"I can't believe you slept WITH TALIA!" Dick shouts in Bruce's face.

"Congratulations you understand how children are conceived," Damian says mockingly once more.

"I'm this close to decking this kid," Dick replies, holding his two fingers out in measurement.

"You are welcome to try, though I doubt that with your pathetic frame, that you would be able to take me on," Damian challenges.

"Alright that's it," Dick declares beginning to march towards Damian. Bruce grabs his shoulder, holding him back.

"Damian who old are you?" Bruce asks in a softer voice, getting down on his knees, so he is closer to Damian's face.

"Don't patronize me old man," Damian spits at him.

"That sentence is ironic, considering your grandfather is about seven hundred," Dick announces.

Damian shoots Dick a look, that is frighteningly close to the batglare. Dick is about to respond when the door bursts open. Talia looks at them and announces, "You have to get out of here, NOW! Take Damian with you, I will hold them off until then. Be careful Beloved."

On instinct, Dick and Bruce begin running down the halls, with Damian trailing, not far behind. They turn a corner and see guards fighting a Brazilian woman with dark brown hair. Bruce grabs Damian by the hand and pulls him the opposite way.

Eventually they make their way to the hangar inside the base. Bruce runs over to one of the jets and begins to start it up. He waits until Dick and Damian are seated, then flicks a few switches and then pushes the lever forward, and the plane thrusts forward at tremendous speed.

When they are in the air and they are sure they aren't being tracked, Dick puts his index finger to his ear, "Oracle, this is Nightwing. Do you read?"

"Not Oracle, but I read," answers Tim on the other side of the comm. "What's up?"

"We just left Ra's hideout, he was attacked. So be prepared for intruders who may have followed us," Dick states. Then he glances over to Damian, "And ask Alfred to prepare a guest room, we have company."

"Who's with you?" Tim asks curious.

"Oh," Dick sighs, "you'll see when we get there.

 **Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you did please leave a review, and if you hated it, tell me what I could have done better. Also for anyone who read the chapter where I originally introduced Damian that is no longer canonical in this series, this is the new origin of their first meeting.**


	19. Head of the Demon Part 2

**Author's Note: Sorry guys, this chapter is long over due, I'm going to try to upload for my other stories more often.**

"Who's he? Bruce did you adopt another orphan?" Tim asks when he sees Damian walk out of the ship with Bruce and Dick.

"I'm not an orphan you imbecile. My father is very much alive. In fact he is standing right in front of you," Damian says pointing towards.

"You have to be joking," Tim declares.

"I wish," Dick says. "You won't ever believe who his mother is."

Tim looks unsure whether he even wants to ask. "Who's his mother," he asks hesitantly.

"My mother is Talia al Ghul, daughter of Ra's al Ghul, and wife of Bruce Wayne," Damian declares proudly.

"Kid, I hate to break it to you, but your mother and Bruce, they aren't married," Dick explains bending down to look eye level with Damian.

"Technically I am," Bruce's voice surprises them.

"Wait what?" Dick and Tim ask in unison.

Bruce huffs. "Technically in the eyes of the League, I am married to Talia."

"How is that?" Tim asks curiously.

Bruce exhales a long, deep breath before answering, "Because when I had first met Talia all those years ago, was when I first met Ra's. I had trained under Ra's and fallen in love with Talia, and then I found out what he really wanted to do to Gotham. I wanted Talia to flee with me, but she told me there was another way. She said that if I married her, I would become the leader of the League of Assassins, and I could order them to do as I say. We were married, but there was a catch. To become leader of the League, I had to kill Ra's. I denied, and was forced to flee, without Talia. That's why her and I are married."

There is an uncomfortable silence for awhile before anyone speaks. Finally, Dick takes a deep breath. "I say you give a DNA test before finalizing any thoughts on this."

"If that is what it will take to make neanderthals realize the truth," Damian declares, pulling up his sleeve so he can get blood drawn.

Bruce walks up to him with a cotton swab and hands it to him. "Just swab the inside of your mouth."

"Squeamish at the sight of blood?" Damian challenges. Bruce glares at him, and Damian does as told without another word. He hands the cotton over to Bruce, who walks over to the Batcomputer to begin the analysis.

After about ten minutes, Bruce declares, "The analysis has come back. He… he is my son."

As Bruce says this, Alfred walks into the Cave and stares unbelievingly at Bruce and then at Damian. "Master Bruce, forgive me, but please do repeat yourself."

"You must be Pennyworth. The help," Damian states monotone.

"I am indeed Alfred Pennyworth, and who might you be?"

"I am Damian Al Ghul, heir to the Demon and son of Batman," Damian declares proudly.

Alfred looks at him confused for a second then at Bruce. Bruce nods his head, to signify that, 'yes he is telling the truth,' and Alfred looks back to Damian. "Very well young sir. Would you like me to show you to your accommodations?"

"That will not be necessary Pennyworth, I do not expect to be here long. And even if I did, I know the Manor's schematics like the back of my hand," Damian states without explaining how or why.

"Very well," Alfred says, and turns to leave.

As he is walking up the stairs, Dick shouts after him, "Wait up Alfred, I'm gonna head up too." Dick runs after to catch up, then walks through the Batcave entrance/exit.

Being left alone with only Damian and Bruce, who's on the computer, Tim decides to try to make conversation with the kid. "So, Damian, how old are you?"

"Age is merely a number that goes up as years go by. A real test of age should be the knowledge and maturity of a person. If it was that way, it would seem that Grayson would be five."

Tim is surprised by the answer, and as such is left speechless momentarily. When he does recover from the shock, he thinks of what other question he could ask. "So you know how to fight?"

"I was raised by assassins what do you think?" Damian responds.

"How about a spar?" Tim suggests.

Damian smirks deviously in anticipation, "Very well."

They stand on the mat, facing one another. Tim has a clear height advantage over Damian, who is a little under a foot shorter than him. Damian eyes Tim for any weakness that he can use to his advantage.

When he has spotted how easily it would be to attack low, Damian springs. He swings at Tim, knocking him over and jumping ontop of him. He reaches into his left boot and pulls a knife, putting it to Tim's throat.

Damian smiles victoriously, "Father, look, I have proven I am a worth successor by beating one of your underlings!"

"Not quite," Tim announces, taking advantage of the unbalanced position Damian took. Tim shifts his weight slightly and throws Damian off of him, and across the mat.

Damian rushes at him once again, swiping at him with the knife. He gets close the first two slashes, and slices Tim's elbow with the third attempt. Growing tired of being only on the defensive, Tim grabs Damian's arm as he goes to attack and once again throws him, only this time harder.

"Whatever," Damian dismisses, "I don't need to prove myself. You're not even related to my father, none of you are. I am the only true successor."

Tim walks up to Damian. "Is that what this is about? You being Bruce's only biological son?"

"Yes, and now he has no need for you!" Damian declares, striking Tim across the face drawing blood, and knocking Tim to the ground. Damian gets up and marches over to the computer as if nothing happened, while Bruce just stares at him.

Tim gets up from the ground and puts his finger to his nose to stop the bleeding. He rolls his eyes, and heads up the stairs into the mansion.

Once Tim is out of listening range, Bruce grabs Damian and stares at him in the eyes. "Don't ever do that again. Tim and Dick have both proven themselves more than enough, while you have yet to do anything to suggest you are worthy of being Batman, let alone Robin!"

Damian returns his glare then huffs and turns away. He heads toward the training are of the Cave, where he begins to punch the training dummy with excessive force.

After an hour of hitting the training dummy, Damian grows tired of training, and as such, decides to head upstairs to rest. He makes his way up the stairs into the Manor to find it empty. He is about to walk into the kitchen when he sees Drake and blonde haired girl sitting there eating. He quickly changes directions and heads the other way.

Reaching the main stairway, he climbs the stairs reaching the top fairly quickly. He has the blueprints on this place memorized, easily finding his way to the sleeping quarters of the house. Knowing which rooms are occupied wasn't on the map, though it's easy enough to figure out.

Opening the first door he finds a blue room with clippings dating back ten years. Back when Dick was Robin. In the second room is an extremely clean room painted yellow. Gordon. Opening the third door he finds a red room that is entirely covered in dust. fourth door opens to reveal an extremely plain room, which Damian would have thought to be the guest room, had it not been for the clothing in the means it must be Cain. The fifth door opens and he sees a green room, slightly messy, with a guitar in the corner. Drake.

He opens the sixth door and is overtaken by the sight. A completely purple room, with purple everything. Closing the door quickly, he turns out of the room and continues. The next door opens to another plain room. This one has no clothing anywhere in the room, the guest room. He walks over to the bed and lays down, quickly dozing off.

He is awoken by Bruce shaking him gently. "Damian, your mother is here." Damian gets up groggily.

"Okay," he mutters, following Bruce down the stairs to the Batcave. When in the Batcave, he sees Talia standing next to an aircraft, similar to the one they borrowed from the League of Assassins.

"Ready my child?" Talia asks. Damian nods his head in response and goes to stand at his mother's side. "Goodbye beloved," Talia tells Bruce, before she and Damian board the plane and fly off.

Dick peeks his head out at the top of the staircase, "He gone?" Bruce nods, and Bruce swears he hears Dick let out a sigh of relief.

"Whatever," Bruce mutters to himself going back to the computer to work instead of dealing with the fact that he has a son.


End file.
